Vietnam Airlines Profile
Vietnam Airlines (VN/HVN) is the Vietnam’s national flag carrier, headquartered at Longi Bien District, Hanoi. Starting from serving only domestic flights in 1956 as Vietnam Civil Aviation and operating with only 5 aircrafts, Vietnam Airlines was officially assigned as Vietnam’s national flag carrier in 1993.
The small airline was expanding as the Vietnamese government acquired 20 service companies together to form Vietnam Airlines Corporation, and the airline as the heart of the corporation.
As the national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines operates to achieve the mission of supporting the economy of the nation. It has more than 15 subsidiaries, some of them are Vietnam Air Service Company, Vietnam Airlines Caterers, Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company and Jetstar Pacific Airlines.
Its logo, the Golden Lotus, represents a special significance for Vietnamese both culturally and philosophically. The sacred and noble flower logo designed by a Japanese artist, Victor Kubo symbolizes the element of enlightenment in Buddhist philosophy that encompasses perfection, nobility and national pride.
Vietnam Airlines has a large route network covering Southeast Asia, East Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania and North America. It flies to 21 domestic and 28 international destinations. The domestic routes are partly operated by its wholly owned subsidiary, Vietnam Air Service Company (VASCO).
In 2010, Vietnam Airlines became the first airline in Southeast Asia region to join SkyTeam alliance. As a SkyTeam member, it codeshares with almost all of the alliance members such as Air France, KLM, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Philippine Airlines etc.
Vietnam Airlines offers 3 travel classes: Business Class, Deluxe Economy Class and Economy Class. The Economy Class which is offer cheap flight tickets, features seats with a pitch of 31-32 inches and 5-6 inches recline distance. For in-flight entertainment, 2 types of screens are available: in-seat screens and overhead screens offering from blockbusters to games.