VIENTIANE, 23 February 2026: Lao Airways confirms this week that it will resume flights linking the Lao capital, Vientiane, with Da Nang, a coastal city in central Vietnam.
Announcing the return to Da Nang on its Facebook page, the airline said it would relaunch the service on 29 March, offering round-trip flights every Thursday and Sunday, deploying a Comac 909 on the route with 90 seats in a single economy class configuration. Flight time: 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Flight schedule
QV317 departs Vientiane (VTE) at 1120 and arrives in Da Nang (DAD) at 1240
QV318 departs Da Nang (DAD) at 1350 and arrives in Vientiane (VTE) at 1510.
Ticket sales are open at the airline’s ticketing offices in Laos, through accredited ticket agents, and on the airline’s website and app. On its website, the airline quotes a round-trip fare of USD290 for a booking in April 2026.
Return to Da Nang
Before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the airline flew the route using a 70-seat ATR-72, with a transit stop in Pakse, southern Laos. It briefly attempted to resume a direct service between Vientiane and Da Nang in 2023 using an Airbus A320, but suspended the service due to poor market response after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The timing is better this time round, as the airline has the right-sized aircraft for the route: The C909, with 90 seats, compared with the ATR72 (70 seats) and the A320 (148 seats) previously assigned to the route pre- and post-Covid-19 pandemic.
There has also been a surge in Da Nang’s popularity with international tourists, with the city projected to welcome 19 million visitors this year. Many travellers from South Korea and China now use Da Nang as a hub and look for “short hops” to places like Luang Prabang or Vientiane. Lao Airlines is banking on these international tourists, rather than just local traffic, to fill the seats on its C909.
(Source: Lao Airlines plus additional reporting)
