Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Bamboo Airways, a new Vietnamese carrier that started operating in January, launched direct flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Da Nang in Vietnam Tuesday.

The round-trip flights, using Airbus A321-neos operating every five days, are the first international route served by the airline, which said Taiwan is one of its major markets, partly because of the Taiwanese government's New Southbound Policy.

Launched in 2016, the policy seeks to establish closer ties with the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and South Asian countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

The carrier, Vietnam's fifth airline, said it plans to fly from more Vietnamese destinations to Taiwan, including the popular tourist destination of Halong Bay in September, along with Nha Trang, Hanoi and Phú Quốc.

Bamboo Airways said it also plans to extend its flights from Vietnam to Taiwan and onward to the United States in the future.

In addition, the airline said it expects to service other routes to neighboring countries such as Japan and South Korea by 2022, when it will have introduced 60 A320s and A321-neos, as well as 40 Boeing 787-9s.

The airline said it aims to offer flights on up to 40 domestic and international routes, increasing the frequency of daily flights to 100 per day and serving 5 million passengers this year alone.

Vietnam's four other airlines are flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, budget operator Jetstar Pacific Airlines -- which is partly owned by Vietnam Airlines -- budget carrier Vietjet Aviation and Vietnam Air Services Co.

Flights between Taiwan and Vietnam are on the increase, from about 100 flights per week at the beginning of 2016 compared with more than 350 flights per week at the current stage.