Vietnam Airlines closes in on US flights
Vietnam Airlines has indicated it may start flights to the United States as soon as the second half of next year if American and Vietnamese regulatory authorities can reach an agreement.
“We are ready, we can start flying there anytime,†Vietnam Airlines chief executive Pham Ngoc Minh said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Ho Chi Minh City.
“We are just waiting for the two countries’ aviation authorities to reach some technical agreement to clear these barriers.â€
Minh, quoted in local media, said the Hanoi-based company expects to receive the first of 16 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets after 2015.
The Vietnamese carrier is still in talks on buying four Airbus A380s, Minh said.
United Airlines launched flights to Ho Chi Minh City in 2004 to become the first American passenger carrier to fly to Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
More than 403,000 Americans visited Vietnam last year, second to Chinese nationals among the sources of foreign visitors to the country.
Ian Jarrett
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