The airline will operate two-class configured Airbus A320neo aircraft, it said in a release. Air India flights will operate on five days a week—Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The AI388 aircraft will take off at 1:15 pm from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and will reach Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City at 7:55 pm.
The returning flight AI389 will depart from Ho Chi Minh City at 8:55 pm and reach New Delhi at 12:30 am on the following day.
“The new route will further strengthen Air India’s network of destinations in Southeast Asia, offer a new flight option to an increasing number of travellers between India and Vietnam, and open new connections for Vietnamese travellers to access Air India’s global route network,” the airline said.
The flights between the two cities will also allow convenient one-stop connections to Vietnam via Delhi for travellers from the US, Canada, UK and Europe.
Currently, the Tata-owned airline operates non-stop aircraft from India to four Southeastern cities– Singapore, Bangkok and Phuket (Thailand), and Yangon (Myanmar).
Air India has built an extensive domestic network with non-stop flights to cities around the world, across USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Far-East, South-East Asia, Australia, and the Gulf, the airline added in a release.
“Air India is navigating through a major five-year transformation roadmap under the aegis of Vihaan.AI, with an ambition to become a world class airline with an Indian heart. The first phase of this transformation, the taxi phase was recently concluded, and focused on fixing the basics,” the airline added.
Meanwhile, the airline announced the appointment of Jayaraj Shanmugam as the Head of Global Airport Operations on Monday April 8. Shanmugam is slated to assume his new role on April 15th, 2024, and will directly report to the Chief Operations Officer, Captain Klaus Goersch.