Recently, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved the plan to develop direct air routes between Vietnam and key countries.
In particular, opening the direct flight to the United States is one of the contents of the plan to develop air routes between Vietnam and other countries and key areas of Vietnam Airlines.
The project also aims to develop international air routes between Vietnam and key markets such as China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Russia, Germany, Australia, France, and India.
Other potential markets are also targeted such as the United Arab Emirates and South Africa to promote investment development, increase exchanges and international integration.
Thus, after several years of preparation, Vietnam Airlines is ready to provide direct flights to the United States.
Duong Tri Thanh, general director of Vietnam Airlines, said that the airline has met all the standards and is ready to open direct flights to the US if the Vietnam Aviation Administration are granted CAT1 by US’s Federal Aviation Administration in accordance with the international aviation safety assessment (IASA) standards.
Thanh said that this route may operate at a loss for many years. However, in the 2016-2020 period, Vietnam Airlines plans to open direct flights to the West Coast of the United States.
The route will have only one technical stop in Japan for refueling and providing meals in a maximum time of about one hour.
The plan also identifies Vietnamese tourism products for US tourists, including visiting old battlefields, relatives, beach resorts, historical cultural and horticultural tourism products.
Travel agents said that they hoped Vietnamese airlines would promote more international routes to such countries as the United States, France, Britain, Japan, and Russia so that enterprises can develop more diversified tourism products instead of just linking with foreign airlines.
According to the project, by 2020, Vietnam’s airlines would open new routes to Ekaterinburg and Vladivostok, Russia.
