A Bamboo Airways aircraft gains altitude. The United Kingdom’s Airport Operators Association has allocated take-off and landing slots to Bamboo Airways at the Heathrow Airport in London – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – The United Kingdom’s Airport Operators Association has allocated take-off and landing slots to Bamboo Airways at the Heathrow Airport in London, allowing it to operate direct flights to the country from May, said a representative of the air carrier.

If the Government reopens its doors to international tourists, the airline will fly directly to the UK following the slot allocation in March, according to Bamboo Airways.

Bamboo Airways will operate six weekly flights between HCMC/Hanoi and London, the local media reported.

Wide-body Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft will be used by Bamboo Airways for the air route between Vietnam and England.

The slot allocation from the UK side is expected to help Bamboo Airways meet the rising travel demand from international passengers, popularize Vietnam’s tourism brand to the global market and boost bilateral trade and investment between Vietnam and the UK, said the Bamboo Airways representative.

The airline planned to fly directly to London in England and Frankfurt in Germany in the first quarter of 2021 but failed due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, during the Covid-19 period, Bamboo Airways operated some direct flights from Hanoi City to London to repatriate Vietnamese citizens.

Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of Bamboo Airways, had earlier said that the global Covid-19 vaccination would be a driver for the aviation sector at the end of the year, so the carrier had targeted to expand its fleet of aircraft from 29 to 40 this year.

Last year, Bamboo Airways received the green signal from the U.S. Department of Transportation to operate direct flights between Vietnam and the United States from the fourth quarter of 2021.