PM attends debut ceremony for flights to and from Osaka

At the event, the PM asked the two carriers to effectively run new flight services, ensuring their safety and efficiency to contribute to trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. 

Vietnam Airlines will offer flights connecting Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Osaka on Boeing 787 and Airbus A350-900XWB up to four-star standard. 

Meanwhile, Jetstar Pacific will operate flights linking Hanoi and the central city of Da Nang with Osaka, becoming Vietnam’s first low-cost airline to offer direct service to Japan. 

As scheduled, its flights will be inaugurated this September with four round trips per week on the 180-seater Airbus A320. One-way tickets will be sold in mid-June for from US$68.18, exclusive of taxes and fees. 

Vietnam Airlines is the largest carrier operating direct flights to Japan with 70 trips per week on average on 10 regular routes linking Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang with Haneda, Narita, Kansai (Osaka), Centrair (Nagoya) and Fukuoka airports. 

Since the first flight in 1994, Vietnam Airlines has served 10 million passengers to and fro the two countries, accounting for 65 percent of the market share. 

Statistics in 2016 showed that the number of passengers travelling between the two countries topped 1.1 million. The figure is estimated at 1.3 million this year, up 17 percent.