Vietnam Airlines, a member of the SkyTeam alliance, has opened reservations for its first Airbus A350 route from Hanoi to Paris’ Charles-de-Gaulle from September 30.
The flight will operate six times a week. Outbound VN019 will depart Hanoi’s Noi Bai at 2355 with a 0700 arrival into the French capital the following day. Inbound VN018 will commence its return at 1400 and touch back down in Vietnam at 0550 the next morning.
Passengers will have countless onward connection opportunities from Paris on alliance partner Air France’s extensive European and African network.
The airline has not revealed the seating configuration for the A350 fleet yet, but is widely expected to continue with its three-class offering comprising business, premium economy and economy class.
Vietnam Airlines has a mix of ten A350-900s (plus four to be leased) and eight Boeing 787-9s (plus eleven to be leased) on order as it seeks to replace its older A330-200 and 777-200ER fleets. Under its renewal strategy its nine A330-200s and nine 777-200ERs will be replaced with the modern generation equipment by the end of 2018, with additional A350s and 787s used to support a growth strategy to support Vietnam’s growing standing in the global economy.
It will be the second in the world to operate the A350, whilst being the first in the world to operate both the A350-900 and the B787-9.
Vietnam Airlines currently flies to four destinations in Europe (Frankfurt, London, Moscow, Paris) but has plans to add another “2-3 ports of call by 2018”, a source at the airline told Business Traveller Asia-Pacific.
For more info visit vietnamairlines.com
Dominic Sebastian Lalk
