Binh Anh
An aircraft of Lufthansa sits at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC. This airline will suspend its HCMC-Bangkok service after March 25 - Photo: Binh Nguyen
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) told the Daily that Lufthansa had reported that it would call off its flights to and from HCMC after March 25 but would still keep open its office at Tan Son Nhat International Airport until April 30 to help customers in case of need.
A booking agency in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District said it would be unable to find fares for its customers for Lufthansa’s flights from this city after March 25 and did not know why. CAAV has not announced any reason for the stoppage of Lufthansa’s weekly service to and from HCMC.
However, industry experts attributed the suspension to its network restructuring plan for summer schedule this year, especially in the ASEAN market.
International media has reported on Lufthansa’s plan to launch flights to Indonesia’s Jakarta via Kuala Lumpur and serve five weekly non-stop flights from Kuala Lumpur to Frankfurt.
HCMC-Bangkok is one of the toughest sections for airlines in terms of competition as services between the economic hub of Vietnam and the capital of Thailand are currently provided by many carriers, including Thai Airways, Vietnam Airlines, AirAsia and VietJetAir.
Lufthansa’s withdrawal from HCMC-Bangkok service will leave Air France the only European carrier that operates flights to Vietnam. After Tuesday, those passengers who want to fly with Lufthansa to Frankfurt and other European destinations will have to fly with other airlines to Bangkok where they will board Lufthansa’s flights.
In the summer schedule, Air France will have four weekly flights between HCMC and France’s Paris and join one code-share service with Vietnam Airlines on this route, from April. Moreover, these SkyTeam members also cooperate in code-share services for the Hanoi-Paris route.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
