Japan’s Wakayama Prefecture launches air routes to Hanoi and Da Nang

This announcement was unveiled on June 13 by Governor of Wakayama Prefecture Shuhei Kishimoto at the opening session of the provincial council.

This represents part of the Japanese locality’s efforts to increase international flights to Nanki-Shirahama Airport after more than five years of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In line with the plan, the first two round-trip flights will be conducted on July 26 and July 30 between Nanki-Shirahama Airport and both Hanoi and Da Nang, making use of Airbus 320 aircraft.

The flights are expected to welcome a delegation of Wakayama province to Vietnamese localities, as well as bringing tourists from Vietnam to the prefecture.

Nanki-Shirahama Airport had previously launched charter flights from the Republic of Korea, China, and a number of other countries, but was forced to suspend operations when the COVID-19 outbreak broke out.

Following the Japanese Government moving to ease border restrictions from October, 2022, Wakayama Prefecture’s administration allocated about US$150,000 in a bid to accelerate the linkages of international flights.

In fact, the air routes linking Wakayama Prefecture to Vietnamese international airports opened last year thanks to the close relationship between the two sides.

Wakayama Prefecture is not only famous for Shirahama Beach, but also for delicious fruits grown on large-scale organic farms that meet stringent quality and safety regulations. Its Unshu mandarin has also been put for sale at AEON supermarket chain in Vietnam since December 2021.

The locality is also a place which receives a large number of Vietnamese technical interns who work in the agriculture, food processing, and seafood processing industries.