Vietnam Airlines To Offer Daily Flights To London Heathrow This Winter

Vietnam Airlines has announced the return of daily connections between London’s Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4 and two Vietnamese cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Scheduled overnight long-range flights

These nonstop flights take over 11 hours from Heathrow to Vietnam currently to go over 6,149 mi (9,895 km), according to Flightera.net. Instead of going the great circle route between the United Kingdom and Vietnam, the flights avoid the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation. The former as relations between Vietnam and the PRC have been tense, and the latter due to international sanctions arising from Russia’s War on Ukraine. Below is a recent Flightradar24 playback of such a flight:

Graphic: Flightradar24

These flights are only possible because of the capability of long-range aircraft like the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which can fly 7,565 nautical miles (8,705.6 mi, 14,010 km). One must remember the 787 was intended to serve the point-to-point model of airline service and, as such, fly long distances efficiently.

Read more: 300+ New City Pairs: How The Boeing 787 Has Increased Worldwide Connectivity

Below is a schedule from Vietnam Airlines for the flights. All times are local:

Vietnam Airlines’ long-haul network in Europe is not limited to London. This month, the carrier has 243 roundtrip flights scheduled between Vietnam and London, Paris, and Frankfurt. The Asian carrier’s busiest routes are to Paris and Frankfurt. Vietnam Airlines offers daily flights from Hanoi to Paris on the Airbus A350-900s and daily flights to Frankfurt on the 787s. In total, more than 67,000 seats are available this month.

Putting 787-9s to good use

Vietnam Airlines has a fleet of 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, consisting of 11 787-9s with an average age of seven years plus four larger capacity 787-10s. A further four Boeing 787-10s are on order. According to ch-aviation data, most 787-9 models have a cabin configuration of 211 seats in economy, 35 in premium economy, and 28 in business class. However, three 787-9s are configured with 283 economy and 28 business class seats, mainly used on domestic flights.

The airline also has Airbus widebodies, 14 Airbus A350-900s, with an average age of 6.7 years. The A350s are most frequently used on flights within Asia and in the Pacific, but also on the airline’s route from Ho Chi Minh City to San Francisco International Airport.

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Sources: ch-aviation.com, Flightera.net, Cirium