Vietnamese Minister of Transportation Dinh La Thang said the direct route will help boost political, economic, diplomatic, trade, investment, tourism and cultural ties between the two countries.

There will be four flights per week on Boeing 777 aircraft, operating on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

The flights will depart from Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport and Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 23:30 and from London’s Gatwick airport at 12:20 (local time). Travel time will be 12 hours, a seven hour reduction compared to flights with one transit stop.

With the launch of this new route, Vietnam Airlines will operate a total of eight direct routes between Vietnam and Europe and 48 routes to international destinations.

On the occasion, Vietnam Airlines is offering a special promotional price of VND20.9 million (USD999) for a round trip ticket from Vietnam to London for passengers who buy return tickets from now until March 31, 2012 and depart between January 1, 2012, to March 31, 2012.

The national carrier is expected to increase its number of flights from Vietnam to the UK to seven each week by 2015.