HANOI - Vietnam Airlines plans to launch direct flights to Germany in the months to come as part of its rapid route expansion strategy, officials said Friday.
The carrier would open a direct route to Germany's business centre of Frankfurt, Vietnam Airlines spokesperson Nguyen Chan told AFP. Currently the flights have a stopover in Moscow.
"We have not fixed a specific date to start the direct flights (but they are likely to begin) probably in late June or early July," Chan told AFP.
Vietnam Airlines is now operating a twice-weekly service from Ho Chi Minh City to Frankfurt, its second European destination after Paris, with stopovers in Hanoi and Moscow.
Earlier, the state-owned airline carrier said it would also consider routes to Western Australia, India, Indonesia and the west coast of the United States.
It has been planning to begin direct flights to the United States by the end of this year or early in 2006.
Last year, Vietnam Airlines carried a record five million passengers, leading to a 16 percent rise in revenues to 1.1 billion dollars.
Passenger numbers are forecast to grow 13.6 percent this year to 5.7 million, the company said.
The International Air Transport Association has said Vietnam's air travel industry would grow 10.5 percent annually in the next 10 years.
04/08/2005 04:40 GMT