Russia’s Aeroflot to resume direct flights to HCMC in January

It would be a twice-weekly service with flights on Wednesdays and Sundays using Boeing 777 aircraft with 368 seats, it said on its website.

It takes around nine hours and 15 minutes to fly between the two cities.

In early December the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam allowed Aeroflot to restart direct services, which also included flights to Hanoi, it had suspended in March last year due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Vietnam Airlines, the only Vietnamese carrier to fly to Russia, also halted its Moscow service at the same time.

For nearly two years passengers traveling between Vietnam and Russia have had to take Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines flights with halts in the Middle East.

Evidently, fares were higher.

Before Covid-19 broke out in late 2019 Russia had been one of the 10 largest sources of tourists for Vietnam.

Without direct flights, arrivals from Russia have fallen to 97,000 this year, a fifth of the pre-Covid number, with people mainly arriving on charter flights.