Bamboo Airways plans to open direct flights to Italy from 2022

Illustrative image. (Photo courtesy of Bamboo Airways)

Hanoi (VNA) -Bamboo Airways plans to promote operations in Italy, and South, Central andNorthern Europe markets from the first quarter of next year, aiming to launch asupplementary market for direct flights connecting Vietnam with Germany and the UK, as well as deploying a regular direct flight between Vietnamand Italy from the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 in line with marketconditions.

The information was disclosed by Chairman of FLC Group and Bamboo AirwaysTrinh Van Quyet during a working session with a delegation led by ItalianAmbassador to Vietnam Antonio Alessandro to the group's headquarters in Hanoi onDecember 6.

According to Ambassador Alessandro, the FLC Group and its Bamboo Airways are focusing on resort real estate, aviation and entertainment –the fields that Italian enterprises are interested in. He said the ConsulGeneral of Italy is ready to play the role as a bridge in potential fields thatFLC and Bamboo Airways wish to cooperate with the Italian businesses in thefuture.

The Italian Ambassador to Vietnam expressed his hope that a direct routebetween Vietnam and Italy would soon be established to expand bilateral tradeopportunities between the two sides.

At the event. (Photo courtesy of Bamboo Airways)

Talking more about the plan to set up a direct route connecting Vietnam andItaly, Quyet said that the carrier would activelycarry out preparations including opening a representative office in Italy andselecting an agent in the Italian market. Besides, Bamboo Airways also strivesto negotiate and collaborate with Italian partners to expand domestic flightnetworks in Italy and Europe, in the form of codesharing.

He said the first Vietnam-Italy direct commercial route does not only brings anopportunity for Bamboo Airways to expand the connection between Vietnam and thelarge European market but is also expected to contribute to further developmentin multilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Quyet also expressed his wish to continue to receive strong support from theItalian Embassy in Vietnam, as well as the Vietnamese Embassy in Italy incompleting related procedures.

Currently, Italy is the fourth largest trading partner of Vietnam in theEuropean Union (EU). Despite facing difficulties due to the pandemic, bilateraltrade turnover reached 2.29 billion USD in the first six months of this year,up 29.3 percent over the same period last year.

Regarding tourism and people-to-people exchanges, Vietnam welcomed nearly71,000 visitors from Italy to Vietnam in 2019. By the end of November lastyear, Italy ranked 35th out of 141 countries and territories investing inVietnam, with 130 valid investment projects and a total registered capital ofnearly 400 million USD./.

VNA