From: "tuan tu" <tuan.tu@canrem.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: [news] us airlines
Date: 14 Apr 92 23:26:14 EST
Reply-To: "tuan tu" <tuan.tu@canrem.com>
Distribution: soc
Organization: Canada Remote Systems


    REUTER
Reut16:22 04-14

BC-VIETNAM
REUTER-ID:703282926
BC-VIETNAM 1STLD
 U.S. AIRLINES SCRAMBLE FOR A FOOTHOLD IN VIETNAM
(Adds comment from Delta spokesman in Atlanta)
    By Kathleen Callo
    HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Reuter - Delta Air Lines, one of
several U.S. carriers eager to gain a foothold in Vietnam, has
invited the head of Vietnam Airlines and the Minister of Trade
and Tourism to visit the United States.
    It would be the first official Vietnamese business
delegation to visit the United States since the Vietnam War,
William Henderson of Group Systems International, a U.S. company
handling Delta ticket sales in Asia, said Tuesday.
    A trade embargo imposed by Washington on Hanoi in 1964 and
extended to the reunified nation in 1975 defines Vietnam as an
enemy and forbids American companies from doing business here.
    Washington said in October it was ready to move toward
lifting the embargo and resuming diplomatic ties with Hanoi. It
said Monday it would modify the embargo to allow American
Telephone & Telegraph Co. to re-establish telecommunications
links.
    Several U.S. airlines have been getting ready to establish a
foothold in Vietnam.
    Delta has invited three Vietnamese delegations, including
Vietnamese transportation officials, to visit this year,
Henderson told reporters in Ho Chi Minh City.
    A Delta spokesman in Atlanta said the discussions with
Vietnamese officials are ``very indefinite, very preliminary''
and can only progress when the two governments permit them.
    ``We routinely explore all kinds of market opportunities,''
said spokesman Neil Monroe. ``There is no time frame for this at
all. This is not even a confirmation that we're going to do
anything'' in Vietnam if permitted, he said.
    Monroe added that the airline has been looking at expansion
opportunities in Asia for a long time.
    Vietnam has opened air links in recent years with France,
Australia, Germany and many non-communist Asian countries. A
growing number of the 1 million Vietnamese living in the United
States have been going home to visit and do business.
    The chairman of United Airlines, Stephen Wolf, visited Hanoi
recently to see if Vietnam would provide United with landing
rights if the embargo were lifted, the Los Angeles Times
reported recently.
    ``The talks were positive and cordial,'' the newspaper
quoted Lawrence Nagin, a senior vice president at United, as
saying.
    Other U.S. carriers have tried to ease their way into
Vietnam with charter flights, flying Vietnamese emigrants and
refugees to the United States.
    Under an agreement between Hanoi and Washington, Vietnam has
allowed hundreds of thousands of people, including an expected
100,000 this year, to resettle in the United States under its
Orderly Departure Program.
    Northwest Airlines was the first American carrier to return
to Vietnam since 1975 when the war ended, transporting emigrants
from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok last year under charter by the
International Organization for Migration.
    Hawaiian Airlines set another precedent when it made the
first two direct flights from Vietnam to the United States in
August 1991, carrying former camp detainees and their families
to the United States.
    Washington gave the carriers special permission to deal with
Vietnam because of the humanitarian nature of the flights.
    The number of people leaving Vietnam for the United States
under the Orderly Departure Program rose to 8,300 in March from
7,963 in February and reached a monthly record of 9,622 in
January, said Anthony Newman, head of the International
Organization for Migration in Ho Chi Minh City.
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