Bamboo Airways licensed to fly directly to the US

It has been allowed to use the wide-body Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to fly directly from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to places like Los Angeles and San Francisco, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Bamboo Airways is the second airline to get permission after Vietnam Airlines.

It is set to begin a direct service to the U.S. at the end of 2021 or early 2022, and will next seek licenses from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Transportation Security Administration and other relevant agencies in the U.S.

The FAA granted a Category 1 rating to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam under its International Aviation Safety Assessment program last February, which meant the latter met safety standards to operate flights to the U.S.

There are currently no non-stop routes between the two countries, and passengers have to transit through East Asia, taking 18-21 hours in all. A direct flight would bring the travel time down to 14-16 hours.

Americans are among the top foreign visitors to Vietnam, with 687,226 arrivals last year, while an ethnic Vietnamese population of over 2.1 million in the U.S. is also expected to be a steady source of travel demand.