Vietnam Airlines to fly direct to London
Back to Forum- This topic has 13 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 20 Jun 2011
at 18:35 by BA319131.
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NewBAexecParticipantVietnam Airlines announced on Tuesday that it plans to fly direct from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to London by the end of this year, according to the Vietnam news agency.
Pham Ngoc Minh, Vietnam Airlines’ president said that England has become one of the most important trading partners in the European Union with Vietnam.
Last year, nearly 90,000 English tourists had come to Vietnam, an increase of 28 percent compared to 2009.
While, UK Trade and Investment Deputy Director in Asia Rob Lally said Vietnam had become a favourite destination for English tourists and businessmen.
The airline hopes that Vietnam will become a tourist hub for holidaymakers wishing to travel to Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, he said.
Vietnam Airlines plans to use a B777-200ER to fly from Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat to Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Four flights a week are initially scheduled, rising to seven by 2014.
About 40,000 Vietnamese are living and working in England and about 7,000 Vietnamese students are studying there according to Minh.
22 Apr 2011
at 22:54
NewBAexecParticipantI wonder why British Airways has not started this route yet from LGW if the demand is so high.
By launching this route before the arrival of Vietnam Airlines, British Airways would definitely have a strong presence in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and beat the competition before it even starts.
I would much rather fly BA First or Club, to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City direct instead of VN.
22 Apr 2011
at 22:55
VintageKrugParticipantThis, once again, comes down to capacity.
If you know any spare BA aircraft languishing unused, please do let them know!
22 Apr 2011
at 23:00
ConstantFlyer1ParticipantFine for Londoners; but as a regionally-based flyer, I’ll probably continue to connect to and use the CDG service.
23 Apr 2011
at 09:40
HippocampusParticipantBA flies indirectly to Ho Chi Minh City via a codeshare service with Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong.
Aircraft issues aside, it is competing against a lot of other potential new routes in Asia (Seoul etc) and for new business/leisure routes, BA is looking for routes that will deliver premium traffic.
23 Apr 2011
at 11:03
InquisitiveParticipantI am amused by VK’s posting explaining capacity. If BA’s marketing brain could have identified a profit route, getting an aircraft with dry or wet lease is cakewalk at this time. But then BA have other problem, how many crew does want to strike?
23 Apr 2011
at 11:11
HippocampusParticipantBA frequently wet/dry-leases short-haul aircraft to make up for temporary short-falls in capacity, but wet/dry leasing long-haul aircraft is likely to lead to customer disappointment as pax will expect the BA hard product.
In any event, more 777s are due for delivery this year and more 747s are also expected to return to service.
23 Apr 2011
at 11:26
Deleted UserParticipantHave all the BA aircraft in the Nevada storage parks now come back into service??
23 Apr 2011
at 11:42
MartynSinclairParticipantIf Vietnam Airways do start flying the route, which will give them a lot of prestige, it will be interesting to see how they are crewed. At the moment, most Vietnam Airways flights (not all) have one local and one European / Australian pilot.
I use Vietnam Airways frequently in the Asia and am impressed by their service. However, I do struggle to understand some of the flight deck announcements made by the Vietnamese pilots and wonder if this could be a problem for European ATC.
23 Apr 2011
at 12:47
LPPSKrisflyerParticipantI’m sure European ATC copes with VN flying in to Paris and Frankfurt!
23 Apr 2011
at 13:20
NewBAexecParticipantOfficially announced flying into Gatwick North terminal. Interesting!
I wonder if BA will start flights to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh from Gatwick North terminal to compete with Vietnam Airlines before they take over the whole market.
Let’s hope so! BA would do very well on those routes as well as Phuket.
20 Jun 2011
at 18:05
BA319131ParticipantI’d love to see BA metal in HAN & SGN, just don’t see it happening any time soon, much easier and cheaper to connect in HKG onto CX metal.
I’m off to Vietnam again next year, hopefully VN entering the market will reduce the prices a litle, fingers crossed!
20 Jun 2011
at 18:35 -
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