Vietnam Airlines joined SkyTeam on Thursday, becoming the first Southeast Asian member carrier of the global airline alliance.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung joined Thursday’s ceremony held at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport for the event.
Senior officials of the Vietnamese government, leaders of SkyTeam and representatives of its member carriers also took part in the ceremony, in which Vietnam Airlines introduced its first aircraft with the SkyTeam logo.
The national flag carrier, which is looking to become one of Southeast Asia’s leading carriers, expects this full membership to boost its Asia presence.
Leo van Wijk, chairman of the SkyTeam governing board, said in a statement: “Asia is an important and strategic growth market for SkyTeam and we are well on track to strengthen our network offering in this part of the world.”
The alliance already includes Air France and Delta Air Lines of the United States as well as China Southern and Korean Air, while China Eastern is also set to join, he said.
Vietnamese PM Dung said the government would give Vietnam Airlines strong support to carry out its development strategy.
The carrier will add 20 new destinations to the SkyTeam network, which allows passengers to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles when traveling on member airlines.
SkyTeam says it offers its 393 million annual passengers a worldwide system of more than 13,000 daily flights to 884 destinations in 169 countries.
To celebrate this milestone, Vietnam Airlines discounts 10% for all tickets booked on www.vietnamairlines.com from June, 09th 21:00 GMT to June, 10th 20:59 GMT.
The carrier is expanding its fleet to include aircraft like the 787 to benefit from Asia’s long-term air-travel growth.
It plans to operate 100-plus aircraft of different types by 2015, from 70 at the end of this year, and 150 by 2020.
On Monday this week, Vietnam Airlines chief executive Pham Ngoc Minh said his corporation expected to start flights to the US in the second half of next year if American and Vietnamese regulatory authorities can reach an agreement.
During a meeting with reporters on the closing day of the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Ho Chi Minh City, he said the two countries’ aviation authorities are working on some technical agreement, and once it is reached, Vietnam Airlines would start the flights.
