The airline will utilize Airbus A321 aircraft for four round-trip flights each week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Flights will depart from Hanoi at 17:35 and arrive in Ahmedabad at 21:30 local time. For the return journey, aircraft will take off from Ahmedabad at 22:45 and land back in Hanoi at 4:35 the following morning.

To mark the occasion, the airline is offering promotional round-trip fares starting from 6.3 million VND (inclusive of taxes and fees). This program applies to tickets purchased from now until 31/12 for flights departing from 3/11.

Vietnam Airlines operates the Hanoi to Ahmedabad route and vice versa using Airbus A321 aircraft. Photo: *Vietnam Airlines*

Ahmedabad marks Vietnam Airlines' 5th destination in the populous Indian market. With the new route, the airline will increase its total flight connections between Vietnam and India to 7, covering routes from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad. The airline's total operational frequency in this market will reach 25 round-trip flights per week, extending across Northern, Western, and Southern India.

The national flag carrier decided to expand its destinations amidst robust growth in passenger traffic between the two nations. Statistical data from the National Tourism Administration indicates that India currently ranks 8th among Vietnam's largest international inbound tourism markets. In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam's tourism sector welcomed over 670,000 Indian visitors, marking a 33% increase compared to the same period last year. These visitors primarily explore prominent destinations such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc.

Nguyen Quang Trung, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Airlines, stated that developing the flight network in India is crucial to the strategy of enhancing connections between the two nations' economic and tourism hubs. The airline's leadership anticipates that the Ahmedabad route will establish another vital gateway into Western India, thereby boosting trade and economic cooperation between Vietnam and the state of Gujarat specifically.

Since the beginning of the year, Vietnam Airlines has consistently expanded its international flight network to potential markets. The airline has launched new routes to Amsterdam (Netherlands), Colombo (Sri Lanka), and Phuket (Thailand). Concurrently, the company has increased flight frequencies to Munich (Germany), Moscow (Russia), Taipei (Taiwan), Osaka, Tokyo (Japan), and Seoul (South Korea).

This strategic expansion of the international flight network is expected to enable the airline to capitalize on trade and investment growth opportunities, contributing to Vietnam's goal of establishing tourism as a key economic sector and enhancing its integration capacity in the new global landscape.

Thanh Thu