Emirates Airlines to Route Flights To Ho Chi Minh City

Dubai based carrier, Emirates Airlines would be operating daily non-stop flights to Vietnam’s commercial capital, Ho Chi Minh City. The destination emirates’ 8th newly added route in 2012 as a part of its expansion plans in South East Asia.

As per its global network expansion plans, Emirates Airlines launched new routes to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. The Dubai based carrier revealed that it is all set to offer non stop daily flights to Ho Chi Minh City from 4th June 2012.

Emirates initially plans to use an Airbus A330-200 in a two class configuration to operate outbound flight to Ho Chi Minh City and return flight to Dubai. However, Boeing 777-300 ER in two class configuration is expected to serve the new route from 28th October 2012.

The two class configuration on the airliners will accommodate 27 Business Class seats and 251 Economy Class seats. The higher availability of economy class seats will ensure that travellers looking for relatively cheap flights’ tickets with Emirates have more options.

Emirates’ daily non-stop flight, EK 390 will depart Dubai International Airport at 0925hrs arriving at Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 1920hrs. The return flight to Dubai, EK 391 will depart Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 2050hrs arriving Dubai airport at 0045hrs, the following day.

Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said, “Following the signing of the Air Services Memorandum of Understanding between Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates in April 2011, we have been busy planning this route and it comes at a very exciting time for the airline, as our global network continues to expand.”

He further added, “Emirates will offer tourists and business travellers, particularly from the Middle East, Africa and Europe, a convenient option to access Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City is one of the most vibrant places in South East Asia and we are convinced that this will prove to be a highly popular route. We look forward to growing our partnership with Vietnam and would like to thank the Government and Airport Authorities for their support in the planning of our launch.”

As revealed by Emirates’ news release, trade between Vietnam and UAE scaled to a whopping US$24 million in 2010 and Emirates’ SkyCargo has been the prominent shipper of Vietnamese export goods to the major Asian gateways including Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong on to European, American, Middle Eastern and African markets.

The lure of a rendezvous with the swanky Emirates Terminal at Dubai Airport is sure to make this new route popular even with travellers who generally are not inclined to splurge on airfares and look for tickets on cheap flights.

Currently, Emirates offers air travel to 117 destinations in 69 countries with 168 airliners. The airline is already the largest A380 operator in the world, operating with 20 A380.

Ho Chi Minh City is Emirates’ 124th destination and eighth route launch this year. Other newly added destinations include Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro (launched on 3rd January); Dublin (9th January); Lusaka and Harare (1st February); Dallas (2nd February) and Seattle (1st March).