If you are planning a trip to Laos, bear in mind that you don’t have many airlines to choose as in its neighbor Thailand. And also some information if you prefer to fly to other provinces rather than traveling by road:
International Airport
There are 4 international airports in Laos:
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Wattay International Airport in Vientiane Capital which has flights from Bangkok, Chieng Mai, Ha Noi, Saigon, Vinh, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Seoul, Singapore, Kuala Lampur, Kunming, Guangzhou. Located 5 km outside of the city center and around 15 minutes transfer; the airport consists of an old and small domestic terminal and a new international terminal.
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Luang Prabang International Airport in Luang Prabang which has flights from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Ha Noi, Siem Reap. Located 3 km from city centre and around 10 minutes transfer, the airport is recently renovated and upgraded to reach international standard.
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Savanakhet International airport in Savanakhet which has flights from Bangkok. Located 2 km and take around 10 minutes transfer, airport is quite small and basically equipped
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Pakse International Airport in Champassak which has flights from Bangkok, Saigon and Siem Reap. Located around 4 km from city centre and take around 15 minutes transfer, airport is small and simply equipped.
Domestic airport
There are some popular airports for domestic routes such as Houei Xay, Oudomxay, Luang Namtha, Xiang Khoang, Xayabury… where regular flights from Vientiane Capital are operated.
Airport service
There are few services at the airport terminal with small restaurant/bar for food and beverage but limited selection. The location of airport is very close to city center and they are not very busy so tourist does not have to arrive to airport too early to avoid waiting time especially for domestic flight.
Air Company
Laos Airline is the flag carrier of Laos. It operates domestic as well as international services to countries such as Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Korea.
Laos Central Airline is a private company which operates one domestic route Vientiane – Luang Prabang and one international route Vientiane – Bangkok.
Vietnam Airline, Thai Airway, Bangkok Airway, Air Asia operate some international route from some big cities in Asia areas such as Ha Noi, Saigon, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Siemrep, Phnombenh, Singapore, Kuala Lambur, Seoul, Kunming… There is no direct route from Europe to Laos.
Airport Taxes
The domestic airport tax and the international airport tax are included in the air ticket and are not needed to be paid at the airport when checking in.
