The proposal had been put to him by Shehim Kottilingal, director of LuLu Group International, which operates a chain of hypermarkets and retail companies, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday.

A Saudi man checks the flight timings at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 16, 2021.

Chinh has led Vietnamese delegation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - Gulf Cooperation Council (ASEAN - GCC) Summit and for a bilateral visit to Saudi Arabia.

Currently there are no direct flights between the two countries, and it takes 11 to 33 hours to fly from Hanoi or HCMC to Riyadh.

The number of Saudi Arabians visiting Vietnam remains modest at only around 2,000 a year, most of them business visitors.

In 2019 only 600 Saudi tourists visited Vietnam, a small number considering more than 10 million travel abroad each year, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Flight bookings to Vietnam surge

Asian tourist hotspots including Vietnam have become increasingly popular with international travelers post Covid, despite a sharp rise in airfares, aviation data shows.

More flights take off in Vietnam for Tet holiday season

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced that it will increase the number of flights for the fourth time to 108 with 20,000 seats in the January 16-30 period to meet skyrocketing demand during the Lunar New Year (Tet) Festival.

Free flight brings Vietnamese citizens home from Japan for Tet holiday

Nearly 200 Vietnamese citizens arrived home from Japan on a free flight operated by the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines on December 29 ahead of the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

Vietnam doubles night flights to ease congestion at largest airport

Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport, Vietnam’s biggest and busiest, will double its number of night flights to more than 200 per day to ease domestic air congestion during the Tet holiday.

Saigon airport adding 20 daily flights for Tet

Vietnam's largest airport Tan Son Nhat has added 20 new daily domestic flights to and from Ho Chi Minh City this winter to meet spiking Lunar New Year demand.

Source: VnExpress