Vietnam Airlines has completed the necessary preparations for direct flights to the United States
On September 21, 2021, Vietnam Airlines officially completed all documents and preparations for the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to consider and approve; on that basis, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will license the Airline to operate regular direct flights between Vietnam and the US.
As a result of this event, Vietnam Airlines became the first Vietnamese airline to be licensed to fly regularly to the United States, a country with the world’s most stringent barriers, legal procedures, and aviation security.
Accordingly, regular flights are completely different from international special charter flights that the US authorities license to some Vietnamese airlines.
Accordingly, regular flights are carried out on a regular basis in accordance with the airline’s flight schedule, with no restrictions on all passengers, and are widely available for sale on the airline’s website, mobile application, ticket office, and so on.
On regular flights, all passengers can look up flight schedules, book options, and purchase tickets at a price that suits their individual needs.
Meanwhile, international charter flights are restricted in terms of flight schedules, objects, and purposes, such as transporting Vietnamese citizens. These flights are only permitted to operate for a limited time; after that, the airline must reapply for permission from the start.
Currently, Vietnam Airlines has completed all of the procedures that the airline side needs to complete in order to meet the requirements of being licensed by US authorities for regular direct flights. In which, the final and most important step is to meet TSA security requirements.
Following receipt of the application from Vietnam Airlines, and concurrent with the review and approval of the airline’s security capacity, TSA will send a representative to Vietnam to directly survey and evaluate the security capacity of the airline airport security comes from Vietnam.
The appointment of a representative to survey is not dependent on TSA approval and approval of Vietnam Airlines’ license. TSA’s license will serve as the foundation for the FAA to issue licenses to Vietnam Airlines and other Vietnamese airlines to operate regular direct flights between Vietnam and the United States.
So far, no airline in Vietnam has a TSA or FAA license to operate regular direct flights to the United States, but some airlines have been licensed to operate special international charter flights between the two countries.
Vietnam Airlines is the first airline to be licensed to fly this flight, once in April 2020 and again in June 2021, with each time being allowed to operate up to 12 flights per year.
The implementation of charter flights is one of the stepping stones for Vietnam Airlines to test, evaluate and prepare for a regular operation plan to the US.
Obtaining TSA and then FAA approval in the coming days can be considered the final step in the journey of realizing the “American dream” of Vietnam Airlines and the Vietnamese aviation industry.
Source: (Laodong.vn)