Speaking at the ceremony, Premier of Western Australia Roger Cook said securing this new direct flight between Vietnam and Perth opens up an abundance of opportunities between the two destinations and represents a whole new inbound visitor market for Western Australia's industry, tourism and hospitality sectors.
"We have a growing Western Australian-Vietnamese community in our state, which has contributed to our social, economic and cultural development and this announcement will provide better direct connections for the community whether it be for leisure, business or studying opportunities”, he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Premier and Minister of Tourism of Western Australia Rita Saffioti said Vietnam is becoming an emerging tourism market for Western Australia, with 10,000 visitors travelling into the state for the year up until March 2023, and these new flights will further bolster that with a further 43,000 people able to come in each year.
"With flights starting in December, just in time for the peak summer season, I'm sure this route will be very popular, and helps affirm our status as the Western Gateway to Australia”, she said.
Flights from Ho Chi Minh City No.VN791 will depart at 15:50 every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday and arrive in Perth at 23:05 on the same day (local time). Conversely, flights from Perth No.VN790 will depart at 00:50 every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday and arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 06:10 the following day. Passengers have been able to purchase tickets for this route since September 1.
With the new route, Vietnam Airlines will operate 23 round-trip flights between Vietnam and Australia each week, averaging 3 flights per day. The total number of routes to Australia operated by Vietnam Airlines has increased to 5, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne; Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney, and Ho Chi Minh City to Perth. All of these routes are served by modern wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A350 or Boeing 787.
Perth is the capital city of Western Australia, one of the most economically significant states in Australia and in the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Currently, there are around 300,000 Vietnamese and those of Vietnamese origin living and working in Perth, the third biggest Australian market of Vietnam.
