Dragonair, a Hong Kong-based airline company, launched a new daily flight service between China's Hong Kong and Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi, said company source in Hanoi on Tuesday.

The new service, with one flight a day in each direction, is expected to improve the business and tourism links between the two cities, said Tony Tyler, chairman of the company at the inaugural ceremony of the new service held here on Tuesday.

Since the first flight of Dragonair landed in Hanoi in late October, the operation has gone smoothly in the past two months, according to the company.

Pham Thanh Tung, director of the international cooperation department of Vietnamese Ministry of Transport, said at the ceremony that the presence of Dragonair in Vietnam is consistent with Vietnamese policy of airline development, and it will create more choices in the air transport sector for travelers in Vietnam.

John Tsang, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said at the ceremony that the new service will add an extra dimension to relationship-building between Hong Kong and Hanoi.

Vietnam is an important business partner to Hong Kong. Last year, bilateral trade topped three billion U.S. dollars. In the first nine months of this year, two-way trade went up 25 percent year-on-year, he said.

Previously, Vietnam Airline and Hong Kong Express Airline operated direct flights between Hong Kong and Hanoi.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2008)