LONDON – The two East-Asian major carriers, Singapore Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines, have announced the signing of an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) to strengthen their commercial collaboration.
The MoU will enable both carriers to explore opportunities and help connectivity amongst travelers between both countries.
Explore & increase
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding will initially enable both carriers to explore opportunities for codeshare arrangements, which would help facilitate greater connectivity between the countries of Singapore and Vietnam.
Eventual codeshare agreements could potentially be expanded to include other served destinations of Singapore Airlines (SIA).
Along with this, the two airlines will further explore the other areas of commercial cooperation which could offer more options and value for their customers.
The signing of the MoU took place during the Veitnam-Singapore Business Forum on February 10 and was witnessed by Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and Dr. Tan See Leng, the Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry in Singapore.
Long-standing cooperation
Both Singapore Airlines and Vietnam Airlines have had a long-standing partnership with each other for over 20 years and counting.
As the international border restrictions eased throughout 2022, both Singapore Airlines and Vietnam Airlines sought greater opportunities to expand their bilateral cooperation to provide quality service for customers traveling between Vietnam and Singapore.
Statements
On the new news, Mr. Le Hong Ha, the Chief Executive Officer of Vietnam Airlines, said:-
“We are pleased to build on this agreement with our trusted partner Singapore Airlines – one of the world’s leading carriers.”
“Over many years, Singapore remains one of the most important markets for Vietnam Airlines.”
“We hope to leverage our joint capabilities throughout many commercial fields of our business and therefore provide a seamless experience to our valued customers.”
“This MoU will also build a strong foundation for our future partnership and robust recovery after the pandemic.”
Mr. Goh Choon Phong, the Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Airlines, also commented:-
“Singapore Airlines and Vietnam Airlines have well-established networks, which can support one another to strengthen the connectivity between the two ASEAN countries and to key markets around the world.”
“These win-win arrangements will offer more options and greater value for our customers, support economic growth, and bolster initiatives that facilitate tourism activities.”
Codeshare with Thai
Besides keeping close cooperation with Vietnam and Vietnam Airlines, Singapore Airlines recently also initiated a codeshare with Vietnam’s neighboring country, Thailand’s Thai Airways.
Announced in December of 2022, Thai & Singapore Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to forge a new strategic partnership.
This will mainly be in the form of a codesharing arrangement between the two sides.
In the initial phase of codesharing, Thai and Singapore will codeshare each other’s flight services between Singapore and Bangkok.
Thai will also codeshare Singapore’s services to Cape Town and Johannesburg as well as Houston, Los Angeles, New York’s JFK & Newark, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver.
At the time of the announcement, the deal was under subject to regulatory approvals.
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