Vietnam Airlines on 28 March added a second route from Vietnam to Sydney

The SkyTeam carrier now offers three times weekly flights on the 7,783-kilometre route between Hanoi (HAN) and Australia’s busiest airport, complementing the airline’s existing daily service from Ho Chi Minh City. The airline will face no competition on the new service which will be flown using its 274-seat 787-9s. Kerrie Mather, MD & CEO of Sydney Airport, said: “More than 240,000 passengers travelled between Sydney and Vietnam in 2016, and we’re delighted this new service will provide more choice for this growing market. With about 40% of Australia’s Vietnamese-born residents living in NSW, the service will make an important contribution to supporting the visiting family and friends market. Hanoi’s colonial architecture and rich sense of history also makes it the ideal holiday destination for Australian travellers.” Adam Marshall, NSW Minister for Tourism and Major Events, added: “In 2016 NSW welcomed 32,000 visitors from Vietnam, which was up 27% on 2015. Between them, those visitors injected $162 million in overnight visitor expenditure into the state’s economy, which again was an 11% increase on the year prior.” With the airline also operating a daily service between Ho Chi Minh City and Melbourne, Vietnam Airlines currently has a monopoly on non-stop services between Australia and Vietnam

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