Vietnam Airlines to restore flight network to China

Vietnam Airlines will resume five more routes to China in March and April this year.

The reopening and increasing airline frequency to China will largely meet travel demand between the two countries. Photo: VNA

With this move, the national flag carrier's air route network to China will return to its pre-pandemic status in 2019, reaching nine destinations.

Specifically, from March, the company will resume flights between Hanoi and Beijing with a frequency of three flights a week. 

At the same time, Vietnam Airlines will increase flights connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with China’s Guangzhou and Shanghai to four per week from one or two currently.

Starting in April, routes between Danang and Guangzhou, Shanghai – Chengdu, and Hanoi – Chengdu will resume, with two weekly flights each.

In addition, starting in September, Vietnam Airlines plans to operate Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 wide-body aircraft on routes between Hanoi and Beijing, and between Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai.

In December 2022, the first scheduled commercial flight between Vietnam and China reoperated after almost three years of disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the optimistic scenario that China will continue to ease entry formalities and demand will recover, Vietnam Airlines expected the number of passengers flying between the two countries in 2023 to reach around 80% of the 2019 level.

In 2019, the airlines carried 8.1 million travelers between China and Vietnam, which accounted for 19% of its total passengers.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, revenues from international scheduled flight routes accounted for 65% of the airline’s total.

At Vietnam Airlines' 2022 annual general meeting of shareholders held last June, the carrier also laid out a plan to restore the entire international flight network by the end of 2023, equal to the level of 2019.