Last week, Vietnam has launched helicopter tours over iconic Ha Long Bay, flying Bell 505s. The tours will be flown by state-owned Vietnam Helicopter unit Northern Vietnam Helicopter (VNH North).
Ha Long Bay is a Unesco World Heritage Site and the most popular tourist attraction in Vietnam. It is expected to attract up to 16 million visitors by 2020. The new Van Don International Airport opened last year is less than an hour’s drive away.
VNH North provides utility and transport services across several industries such as oil and gas, tourism, air ambulance, search and rescue, and VIP transportation. The company plans to offer point-to-point transfers from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, charter flights, wedding photography, and aerial surveys with its Bell 505s. VNH also is a Bell Customer Advantage Plan maintenance plan customer.
American helicopters Bell 505s
“We are proud to be part of this historic milestone for Vietnam,” said David Sale, Bell managing director, Asia-Pacific. “The Bell 505 is a great aircraft for tourism and is already flying tourists in Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and now Vietnam.”
On Monday, American Ambassador in Vietnam Kritenbrink posted on the Facebook page of the U.S Embassy in Hanoi that “Last Friday marked a milestone of the first commercial sale of American helicopters to Vietnam. Bell Helicopters, and their local partner, Vietnam Helicopter Corporation, commission their first two aircraft for tourism in Halong Bay. While there have been American helicopters in Vietnam in recent years, there have been no commercial sales until now. I’d like to congratulate Bell and their partners on this agreement. I think this is just one sign of the even greater economic cooperation yet to come.”