Vietnam Airlines' Boeing 787-10 aircraft (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – VietnamAirlines and US-based Delta Air Lines will begin their reciprocal codeshareagreement in January to operate Vietnam – US flights via Japan’s Tokyo, arepresentative from the Vietnamese national flag carrier said on January 2.
The US Department of Transportation recently grantedapproval for the two airlines to expand cooperation after they inked two-waycodeshare agreement in August 2019, according to the representative.
Under the agreement, Vietnam Airlines will provide Vietnam – Tokyo flightswhile Delta Air Lines will operate services between Tokyo and US cities. Thetwo-way partnership allows passengers to book a codeshare flight and fulfillflight formalities only once for their entire journey through either VietnamAirlines or Delta Air Lines, thereby facilitating their visits to populardestinations in both nations.
The Vietnam Airlines representative said that with the USDepartment of Transportation’s approval, the carrier has complete its right tooperate routes to and from the US, including regular flights, charter flightsand two-way partnership flights. This is billed as a significant move for theairline to explore travel demand between Vietnam and the US while making customersform the habit of flying to the US on Vietnam Airlines-operated flights.
In 2010, Vietnam Airlines clinched a one-way codeshare agreement with Delta onten international routes to and from the US, and ten domestic routes in the US.The agreement has enabled Vietnam Airlines passengers to fly to eight US statesby transiting in Tokyo (Japan) or Frankfurt (Germany). However, VietnamAirlines only marketed and sold tickets for the flights, while Delta had theright to operate them.
In 2018, the Vietnam-US route saw 757,000 arrivals, up 8 percent year on year. Ofthem, 18,000 came from the virtue of the two airlines’ cooperation, primarilyfrom the US to Vietnam.
Delta, an airline based in Atlanta city, provides international flights toNorth America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean./.
VNA
