Bamboo Airways to launch HCMC-Melbourne direct flight next year

Initially, there will be two weekly return flights using the wide-body aircraft Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, and this will be increased to four a week later, the carrier said in a press release.

The direct service would help cut travel time between Vietnam and Australia to eight hours.

Over 300,000 Vietnamese live and work in Australia, mainly in Sydney and Melbourne.

Australia is one of Vietnam's biggest feeder tourism markets, with more than 383,000 arrivals in 2019, according to data from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Before the Covid outbreak, Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar had launched direct flights between HCMC and Melbourne, while Vietnam Airlines operated a direct Hanoi-Sydney flight on its own Boeing 787.

The government last week approved the resumption of commercial flights between Vietnam and nine destinations with high vaccination rates and good pandemic control measures in place from Jan. 1.

Regular flights are scheduled to resume to Bangkok (Thailand), Beijing/Guangzhou (China), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), San Francisco or Los Angeles (the U.S.), Seoul (South Korea), Singapore, Taipei (Taiwan), Tokyo (Japan), and Vientiane (Laos).

In the second phase starting January 16, flights would be added on routes connecting Vietnam and six more destinations, including Sydney (Australia).