Vietnam Airlines will start its first flights to the US from November 28 after getting a green light from the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Having received a permit this week it will start flying twice weekly to San Francisco from Ho Chi Minh City.
The flights will be operated on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
The carrier expects to ramp up to daily flights once travel normalises and the Vietnam Government allow regular international flights to increase.
The SkyTeam alliance member has been trying to launch US flights for years and opened a US representative office two decades ago.
The FAA only granted Vietnam a Category 1 safety rating just before the pandemic.
New Vietnamese rival Bamboo Airways is also keen to launch commercial flights to the US soon.
Bamboo Air already has a permit to operate repatriation charter flights to and from the US.
Bamboo also recently announced plans to start Vietnam-UK direct flights.
