The service was announced at the Australia-Vietnam Business Forum in Melbourne this morning, March 5, at the witness of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and representatives from high-ranking officials of Australia and Vietnam.
The Hanoi-Melbourne service was announced at the Australia-Vietnam Business Forum in Melbourne: Photo by Doan Bac
Chinh arrived in Melbourne on Monday to attend the ASEAN-Australia Summit and begin his official visit to Australia at the invitation of his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.
The Hanoi-Melbourne service will be launched on June 3 with two return flights per week. The flying time will be around 10 hours.
Flights from Hanoi to Melbourne will depart every Monday and Friday at 17:10 (local time), while those from Melbourne to Hanoi will depart every Tuesday and Saturday at 7:30 (local time).
Nguyen Thanh Hung, vice chairman of VietJet Air, said that the air route will help boost tourism as well as trade and business coo-operation between the two countries.
On the same day, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Vietnam-Australia air route by national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines.
Vietnam Airlines is running 23 weekly flights on five routes including Hanoi/HCM City-Melbourne, Hanoi-HCM City-Sydney and HCM City-Perth.
Over the past 30 years, Vietnam Airlines has conducted 12,800 flights to Australia with six million passengers and 170,000 tonnes of cargo.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasised the significance of the aviation sector in the economic development. Vietnam wanted development and healthy competition of both state-owned and private airlines.
Chinh also proposed Australia help in aviation sector training, including pilots and managers.
