Vietnam Airlines Flight VN 593 departed from Hong Kong to Hanoi at noon on December 11, marking the first regular flight between the two sides after a nearly 3-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initially, the flag carrier will re-operate the route with a frequency of three return flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays.
Vietnam Airlines is the first Vietnamese airline to reopen regular commercial flights with Hong Kong.
The airline will consider increasing flight frequencies as Hong Kong’s pandemic prevention and control policies are further relaxed, its chief officer in Hong Kong said.
Vietnam Airlines’ round-trip flights between Hong Kong and Hanoi were suspended from February 6, 2020 due to Hong Kong’s strict COVID-19 prevention and control policies.
In March this year, the airline resumed flights from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City and increased frequency at the end of November.
According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, the country’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 11,520,639 with 231 new cases recorded as of December 11. With 48 patients who were ‘all-clear’ during the day, the number of cures increased to 10,609,621. There are now 47 patients who require respiratory support. No deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours. The total number of fatalities was 43,178.
With 9,015 doses administered on December 10, the total number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines injected rose to 264,913,691.