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Bamboo Airways on Thursday launched the first direct flight between Melbourne and Vietnam’s capital city, Hanoi.
The 787-9, VN-A818, departed the Victorian capital at 10:17am as flight QH83 and is scheduled to land at 4:45pm local time.
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The airline will initially operate one flight a week between the two destinations, in addition to its service between Melbourne and Vietnam’s largest city Ho Chi Minh.
Melbourne Airport general manager Jim Parashos said, “For the large Vietnamese community here in Australia, it will also provide an essential connection to family and friends back home, as well as enable international students from Vietnam to come down under to study at our world-class higher learning institutions.”
Vietnam has already reopened its borders to all foreign travellers, but passengers must either have evidence of a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure or evidence of a negative antigen test administered by a medical professional.
Bamboo’s deputy general director of airways, Truong Phuong Thanh, said, “Melbourne-Hanoi is the second regular route to Melbourne and the third route to Australia that we operate after Vietnam reopened the international network from February this year.
“We expect this Melbourne-Hanoi route will further strengthen its crucial role as an aviation bridge and make a substantial contribution to Vietnam and Australia relations in all aspects.”
It comes after Bamboo also launched a new route between Sydney and Ho Chi Minh at the end of March, taking on Jetstar and Vietnam Airlines.
Australian Aviation reported in 2020 how Vietnamese airline Bamboo Airways landed its first direct flight to Australia.
The 787-9 Dreamliner, VN-A818 (msn 62735), departed Hanoi as QH9088 at 7:39pm on 5 September 2020 and landed the next morning in Melbourne at 7:57am.
Shortly after, it departed on a 10-hour repatriation flight back to Vietnam with nearly 300 Vietnamese citizens onboard, who had been studying or working in Australia.
