U.S. agency to ink new phases of air safety project - Vietnam Airlines

Officials of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency are expected to arrive later this month to ink new pacts for the next phases of an ongoing project aimed to enhance the safety oversight capacity of Vietnam's civil aviation authority.


Lai Xuan Thanh, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), said the first phase of the project had been completed and the U.S. agency's representatives would come in preparation for the next phases.

Thanh told the Daily on the phone on Wednesday that the U.S. government was providing US$1.4 million to assist in implementing the whole project in three phases.

Thanh said the project was proceeding slower than scheduled and this had delayed the launch of direct air service by Vietnam airlines between the two countries. The service, scheduled for launching late this year, would not be translated into reality until mid-2009, he added.