The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines will strengthen bilateral cooperation with Turkish Airlines, the national flag carrier of Türkiye, opening up new opportunities to enhance the competitiveness and develop business, but also promoting economic, cultural, and social exchanges among Turkey, Vietnam, and the Middle East region.

Representatives of Vietnam Airlines and Turkish Airlines at the signing ceremony in the UK.

Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two sides at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK on July 18, the two airlines will expand cooperation in transporting passengers and cargo, along with studying the opportunity for a passenger codeshare cooperation on flight routes between Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City - Istanbul. Through this cooperation, customers will have more choices of new destinations on both airlines’ networks.

Turkish Airlines and Vietnam Airlines will cooperate more closely in the field of cargo transport through the implementation of a codeshare partnership, which is expected to take effect in 2023. In the future, the two airlines will explore more partnership possibilities to strengthen bilateral cooperation in this area.

President & CEO of Vietnam Airlines Le Hong Ha said the cooperation between the two flag carriers will bring great benefits to passengers, and promote aviation connectivity, and economic and cultural exchanges among Vietnam, Turkey, and the Middle East region.

“This is also Vietnam Airlines' effort to strengthen global cooperation, expand the route network, recover the economy after the pandemic and seize new development opportunities,” he said.

Turkish Airlines Chief Investment and Technology Officer Levent Konukcu emphasized the need for cooperation. “Our mutual desire and expectation are to enrich relations in many fields and provide more opportunities to our passengers. As Turkish Airlines together with this intention we are glad to sign this MoU which will eventually serve to deepen relations between our countries.” 

Vietnam Airlines was established in 1995, playing a major role in the air transport of Vietnam and the region. Vietnam Airlines provides air transport services on over 100 routes to more than 20 domestic and 30 international destinations. Operating a modern fleet of more than 100 aircraft, Vietnam Airlines is the first airline in Asia-Pacific to simultaneously operate modern, wide-body aircraft Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. Vietnam Airlines is a member of Skyteam, has maintained Skytrax's 4-star service quality for years, and is gradually upgrading to a 5-star standard.

Established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 382 (passenger and cargo) aircraft flying to 340 worldwide destinations as 287 international and 53 domestic, in 129 countries.