Skyteam welcomes Vietnam Airlines

It now appears that Vietnam Airlines is now an official new member to Skyteam. The joining ceremony took place as of June 10th in Hanoi. The airline is the first Southeast Asian member to join the alliance. It is adding 20 new destinations to the Skyteam network.

The president and CEO of Vietnam Airlines, Pham NgocMinh, said that their joining today reaffirms that Vietnam Airlines is in a position as a major carrier in the Southeast Asian region. The company is now a strategic partner for Skyteam. Their cooperation will help further develop at Skyteam and its member airlines. It will generate valuable benefits for passengers and making greater contributions to the international economic integration of Vietnam.

The Chair of the Skyteam Governing Board, Leo van Wijk, said that Asia is an important and strategic growth market for Skyteam. They are on track to strengthen their network and offer more destinations around the world. Together, with their current members, they are just one step closer to being the leading alliance for Asia.

On top of this, TAROM is also due to join Skyteam this month. It will be an associate member sponsored by Air France. The Romanian airline was first announced as a future Skyteam member way back in 2005. Thus, this has been one membership that has been left outstanding for a long time.

Air France will represent TAROM in all decision making with other member airlines. Once TAROM joins Skyteam it will start offering the Air France loyalty programme, Flying Blue. It will be replacing its own Smart Miles frequent flyer scheme.

Tags: SkyTeam, Vietnam airlines, Vietnam aviation, Vietnam aviation industry, Vietnam aviation market

Posted by VBN on Jun 14 2010. Filed under Aviation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry