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The first Vietnam Airlines flight from Hanoi to Melbourne has touched down at Tullamarine.
Flight VN779 landed in Melbourne at 1pm on Thursday on board the seven-year-old Airbus A350-900 aircraft VN-A889. The service will operate twice per week, and compliments Vietnam Airlines’ existing service to Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnam Airlines now joins low-cost carrier Bamboo Airways in offering direct flights from Melbourne to both of Vietnam’s two largest cities. Melbourne Airport CEO Lorie Argus said the flights add much-needed capacity to one of Victoria’s most important growth markets.
“The launch of today’s service means we now have 60 per cent more capacity flying to and from Vietnam than we did before the onset of Covid-19,” she said.
“Vietnam Airlines was the first airline to connect Victoria with Vietnam, but this is the first time they have connected the two capitals and we are pleased to see them expanding their offering from Melbourne.”
Bamboo Airways was the first airline to fly direct between Melbourne and Hanoi, launching its service in 2022.
At the time, Melbourne Airport general manager Jim Parashos said, “For the large Vietnamese community here in Australia, it will provide an essential connection to family and friends back home, as well as enable international students from Vietnam to come down under to study at our world-class higher learning institutions.”
Vietnam Airlines also flies direct from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney.
