Air France teams up with Vietnam Airlines for nonstop service

Air France and Vietnam Airlines have just joined together in a code-share agreement which will begin July 3. The new agreement will allow customers on either airline to fly nonstop between Charles de Gaulle in Paris to Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi in Vietnam. Flight services will run three times per week.

Vietnam Airlines will operate the flights using their line of Boeing 777-200 aircraft. All flights will operate under the ‘AF’ for Air France’s flight code. Air France, currently, operates flights to both cities via Bangkok, and will continue to offer that route as well in addition to the Vietnam Airlines flights.

Now Air France will up their flight numbers to 13 per week instead of the previous seven. There will be six flights from Paris to Hanoi and another seven between Paris and Ho Chi Minh City. The plan is for both airlines to work together to establish better nonstop services between France and Vietnam.

As the Southeast Asian country continues to grow in popularity as a holiday destination spot for Europeans, airlines are continuing to up services to Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Air France hopes with this latest move that all flights to Vietnam will be nonstop by November of this year.

The airline has said that by winter 2010, they will operate three flights per week to Ho Chi Minh City from Paris aboard their Boeing 747-400 aircraft, and then eventually aboard a Boeing 777-300ER. The move is expected to be met with an increase in popularity on these flights, especially with the nonstop aspect allowing passenger to bypass Bangkok.

Garry Robertson

Tags: Air France, Vietnam airlines, Vietnam aviation