Flight VN 593 of Vietnam Airlines departed from Hong Kong to Hanoi on December 11 afternoon, marking the first regular flight between the two sides after nearly 3 years of interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initially, the national flag carrier will re-operate the route with a frequency of three round-trip flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays.
Vietnam Airlines is the first Vietnamese carrier to reopen regular commercial flights with Hong Kong.
The airline will consider increasing the frequency of flights when Hong Kong’s pandemic prevention and control policies are loosened further, according to its chief officer in Hong Kong.
The return flights of Vietnam Airlines between Hong Kong and Hanoi were suspended from February 6, 2020, due to Hong Kong’s strict COVID-19 prevention and control policy.
In March this year, the carrier resumed flights from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City, and increased the frequency in late November.
According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Health, COVID-19 caseload of the country rose to 11,520,639 with 231 new cases recorded on December 11. With 48 patients given the all-clear during the day, the number of recoveries rose to 10,609,621. Meanwhile, there are 47 patients needing breathing support. No death from COVID-19 was recorded in the past 24 hours. The total fatalities stood at 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.