Bamboo Airways to launch direct Germany flights

By Dat Nguyen March 3, 2020 | 05:08 am PT

A Bamboo Airways aircraft prepares to land at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Shutterstock/Phuong D. Nguyen.

Bamboo Airways plans to become the first Vietnamese airline to operate direct services to Munich, Germany, in July, as it seeks to tap the European market.

On Monday it signed a memorandum with Munich Airport for direct flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. There will be one weekly round-trip from Hanoi and two from Ho Chi Minh City using wide-bodied Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets.

Munich is Germany’s third largest city after Berlin and Hamburg.

The German-Vietnamese community of 176,000 is expected to be a source of travel demand. There were 226,800 visitors from the country to Vietnam last year, up 6 percent from 2018, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Bamboo Airways considers the European Union a key market. It also received permits to fly directly to the Czech Republic and will launch its first flight on March 29.

The airline now operates on 40 domestic and international routes, and plans to increase the number to 85 this year.