Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam Airlines, the country's national flag carrier,looks to dominate the Vietnam-US route as preparations have been completedfor its first direct flight to the US, which is scheduled to take off on November28, said General Director of Vietnam Airlines Le Hong Ha.

The Vietnam-USroute was among one of the most in-demand pre-pandemic. There were 24,000Vietnamese university students and a 2.2 million strong Vietnamese community inthe US in 2020. Two-way trade has been on the rise in recent years reaching 90billion USD in 2020 and projected to hit over 100 billion USD this year, makingthe Southeast Asian economy one of the US’s top trading partners. 

As a result,the airline is confident demand will quickly recover once the pandemic isput under control and mobility restrictions relaxed, Ha said. 

Competition,however, is expected to be fierce as the airline must compete againstlower fares of one-stop flights offered by the Republic of Korean and Japaneseairlines. VietJet, another Vietnamese airline, is soon to join the competitionwith their direct flights to the US.

Ha saidVietnam Airlines would have to rely on superior quality services,Skytrax-certified 4-star and soon to upgraded to 5-star, to win overpassengers. He said the soon-to-be-operational route had been a result ofnearly two decades of preparational work. The airline had been conductingnumerous market studies and building an extensive sales network over the yearsto find customers. 

One-way ticketsfor the route are priced around 800 USD with taxes and fees included,according to Ha. At the beginning, tickets for US-Vietnam flights will be soldby ticket agents only due to pandemic restrictions. In the meantime, theairline will finish preparations to allow passengers to purchase ticketson its website and mobile apps in the future. 

In an earlierprojection, the airline said it expected to incur a loss in the amount of 30-50million USD during the first phase of its operation with a projected scenarioof seven flights per week and heavy competition. 

The loss hasbeen readjusted lower as the airline will be operating onlytwo flights per week. While the airline will likely report a loss inthe first five years, the situation should be manageable. 

The firstdirect flight to the US by Vietnam Airlines using a wide-body Boeing 787-9Dreamliner will take off on the evening of November 28 from Ho Chi Minh City to SanFrancisco and arrive in 13 hours and 50 minutes. The return flight will takeoff on November 29 from San Francisco and arrive in Vietnam on December 1, 16hours and 40 minutes later./.