Greater China strong growth; Berlin next European destination?
Vietnam Airlines’ current network expansion priority is the regional market. “The Greater China market is strong, showing real demand for our region,” revealed Minh. India and South Asia is also a new market eyed by Vietnam Airlines, which supports the Vietnamese government’s negotiations and gradual movement towards open skies treaties. Later on, Vietnam Airlines might start serving destinations in the Middle East, Minh told anna.aero.
In Europe, Minh said that the airline is currently looking at one further destination, highlighting Berlin as a potential candidate. Notably, Berlin not only strengthens its hub status with the completion of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport later this year, but the German capital boasts a large Vietnamese population and was the German destination served by Vietnam Airlines during a part of the 1990s. However, in 2004, the two German routes launched by the airline were instead to Frankfurt.
Minh also mentioned Amsterdam and Milan as potential future European destinations. Previously,
the US west coast has also been mentioned as a future key long-haul market for Vietnam Airlines.