Transport Canada has provided permission to Vietnam Airlines to start passenger and cargo flights to any airport in Canada, beginning this month.
The first flight is scheduled to take off from Hanoi bound for Toronto Pearson International on June 30 later this month to repatriate Vietnamese in Canada. The carrier is also looking forward to transporting Vietnamese students to Canada next month.
Read More: Direct flight between Nepal and Vietnam to start
Vietnam Airlines is the first Vietnamese carrier to get a Foreign Air Operator Certificate from Transport Canada after a lengthy examination process that took four months.
Although the detailed schedule is not released yet, the Vietnamese flag carrier will mainly operate flights to Toronto and Vancouver. The airline will be deploying its Boeing 787s or the Airbus A350s for these ultra-long-haul flights.
The flag carrier has configured its A350-900 with 305 seats, whereas its Boeing 787-10s are configured with 366 seats.
Recently, the carrier also received permission from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to conduct 12 repatriation flights this year, starting this month.
Canada flights for Vietnam Airlines
It was granted permission last year to conduct several repatriation flights to Canada between July and November.
Flights to the United States
Vietnam Airlines has been granted permission by U.S. officials to operate 12 repatriation flights this year.
On June 22, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner registered VN-A868 made its first flight through Hanoi to Washington, D.C., with a stopover in Alaska while returning to Vietnam on June 24.
The airline stated “that it would operate these flights using its largest wide-body aircraft, the Boeing 787 or the Airbus A350.
11 Airbus planes are up for grabs in an auction
Three Vietnamese banks have offered to give Vietnam Airlines (HVN.HM) 4 trillion dongs ($173.8 million) to assist the struggling flag airline withstand the pandemic’s effects and avert bankruptcy.
It intends to sell 11 Airbus A321 planes by auctions, as the Southeast Asian country’s flag carrier battles to recover from the pandemic’s catastrophic impact. The airline liquidated the aircraft between 2004 and 2008 due to its attempts to renew its fleet and strengthen its financial condition during the outbreak, state media said, citing an unidentified Vietnam Airlines source. During the first quarter of this year, the airline recorded an economic loss of 4.97 trillion dongs ($215.68 million), almost twice the 2.61 trillion dong deficit during the first quarter of 2020.
Bank Insolvency
Three Vietnamese banks reportedly offered to finance 4 trillion dongs (US$173.8 million) to assist the national airline in surviving the aviation recession triggered by the COVID-19 epidemic and avoiding insolvency.
Vietnam Airlines’ fleets
Vietnam Airlines presently operates 49 Airbus A321-200s, with 27 in service and 22 in storage. Vietnam Airlines’ remaining fleet includes two Airbus A320neos, two Airbus A321neos, fourteen Airbus A350-900s, seven ATR 72-500s, four Boeing 787-10s, and eleven Boeing 787-9s.
