Vietnam Airlines fleet ready to use B787 and A350

From April 2015, Vietnam Airlines fleet will be renewed by B787 and A350. The airline will be the first airlines in Asia receiving and exploiting two latest advanced aircrafts. It also upgrades quality of services and change new brand identity.




Boeing 787

Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner are two saving-energy aircrafts in new Vietnam Airlines fleet with medium size with the capability in long-haul routes. The two reputable brands are making their attempt to become the world biggest aircraft manufacturer. The aircrafts assembled to meet demands of international long-haul flights are flighting to gain market share in Paris Air Show. They are two rivals of each other for a long time. European aircraft manufacturer - Airbus and Boeing the United States once again become the focus of attention.


Bloomberg gives some criteria to compare two brands of aircraft manufacturers. On the starting price, the Airbus A350 is priced from US $ 245.5 million, while the Boeing 787 has a slightly lower price: US $243.6 million. The Airbus can carry up to 314 passengers, while the maximum in Dreamliner is 290 Dreamliner. But the average number of passengers that both of them can carry is 270. About the length of route, Airbus can fly more than 15,600km without energy provided, while Boeing is slightly better with 50km. All two types of aircrafts have the speed of 900km/h, equal to 85% speed of sound. This means, in flights from New Jersey (US) to Singapore, it takes about 17 hours, less than 1 hour and a half compared with other currently commercial aircrafts. By dint of using lightweight composite materials, aircrafts use less fuel. Airbus has 30% of the structure using composite materials, while Dreamliner use half of the structure.



A350 Vietnam Airlines

Mr. Pham Ngoc Minh - Vice General Director of Vietnam Airlines said, "During over the next 3 years from 2015, VNA will renovate all fleet with wide body aircrafts of Airbus 350 and Boeing 787-9. This is an important breakthrough, which helps the airline modernize and improve the quality of service, contribute to the development of long-term goal of becoming one of top leading airlines in South East Asia.

After VN Airlines issues the video and images about two new aircrafts of Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A350 XWB on Youtube and Facebook, there are new schedules of two aircrafts on domestic routes. Previously, there are only Boeing 787-9 in flights to London from July and Airbus A350 XWB in flights to Paris and Seoul since October. For many who love to experience new planes of Vietnam Airlines, the opportunity to get on the aircraft is not high. However, for domestic flights, it is easier. At the beginning of last month, two new Vietnam Airlines domestic flights released are implemented by Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A350 XWB in routes between Hanoi andHo Chi Minh City... Accordingly, Boeing 787-9 will fly in this routes from early June and Airbus A350 XWB will start from early July.



Boeing 787 Dreamliner Vietnam Airlines

Besides, it is expected that at the end of this month (March 2015), Vietnam Airlines will announce to have its exploitation at Heathrow Airport (London - UK). Accordingly, passengers of Vietnam Airlines travel from/to London (UK) will conduct check-in procedures, baggage and boarding at Heathrow Terminal 4, instead of Gatwick Airport, the current airport operated by Vietnam Airline. At the London Heathrow Airport, VNA will increase the frequency of 4 flights / week up to 5 flights / week, including 3 flights between Hanoi – London, and 3 flights between Ho Chi Minh City and London.

Vietnam Airlines orders Airbus latest aircrafts

According to the report of Airbus on April 23rd, Vietnam Airlines has become the first airline in Asia to use the latest advanced type of aircraft of this company named A350 XWB. The first A350 XWB will land at Vietnam airport in mid 2015.

Mr. Alan Pardoe, Chief Marketing Officer of Airbus has said that there are 3 versions of A350 XWB: A350-800 with carriage of 270 passengers in there-classes design, A350-900 with carriage of 314 passengers and A350-1000 with carriage of 350 ones. Thanks to the application of advanced technologies, the new plane type of Airbus reduces operating cost up to 20% per passenger seat, uses fuel more efficiently than same planes types on the market, especially Boeing 777-200 ER. In addition, A350 has outstanding advantages of wide seat, noise reduction, and air filter application on planes. As planned, Vietnam Airlines will have fourteen A350-900 aircrafts, of which ten units are directly ordered from Airbus and the rest 4 units are hired. This is really good news of Vietnam Airlines. With this project, Vietnam Airlines fleet expects to improve its services and reduce its cost of fuel with the aim of lowering price for passengers.

A350-800 of Vietnam Airlines in future - Source: Image from Wikimedia Commons

Also at the press conference in Hanoi, it was stated that Airbus, the leading aircraft manufacturer in the world had chose Nikkiso Vietnam Company to produce composite vertical bars of wings and Sharklet’s armor plates for 320s under sub-contract with main supplier Sharklet – the Korean Air Aerospace Division (KAL-ASD). Sharklet is a wing tip device which has been introduced in 2009 by Airbus. It is designed to enhance the payload-range performance of the A320 Family. Sharklets, a retrofit option, are expected to reduce fuel burn of up to 4% over longer sectors, which may correspond to annual CO2 reduction of around 700 tones per aircraft. With 4,280 aircrafts of A320 type which will be delivered to customers all over the world, this contract is expected to ensure a long-term work for Nikkiso Vietnam.
Mr. Jean Francois Laval, Executive Vice President of Airbus in Asia said that the company chose Vietnam to produce aircraft’s components because the aviation market of Vietnam was growing fast, the cost of production was low and Airbus received favorable supports from Vietnamese Government. The company is also researching to expand the scale of production and increase the number of factories in Vietnam in the future.

A350-800 on its flight - Source: Image from Wikimedia Commons

Earlier this year, another airline in Vietnam named Vietjet Air currently operates ten A320 Airbus aircrafts and has ordered over 100 A320 aircrafts including firm orders for 63 A320s, plus 30 purchase rights and more 7 lease aircrafts. Jetstar Pacific Airlines, with two main shareholders: Vietnam Airlines and Qantas Group, is being operated totally by Airbus aircrafts, with 6 A320s which are serving for domestic routes at present.