Vietnam and the US have signed an agreement allowing the latter to continue the second and third phases of its aviation safety project.

The project, with the US funding of US$1.4 million for the three phases starting in 2006, aims to help Vietnamese aviation staffs to improve their capacity on supervising air traffic safety on the roadmap to open a direct air route to the US.

In early 2008, the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines submitted its application to the US aviation management agency for a license to operate direct flights as of next year as possible.