Vietnam Airlines has confirmed no changes to their flights to and from Paris following the attacks on November 13.

After the fatal shootings and suicide bombings in the French capital on Friday night (local time) that claimed at least 129 lives, representatives of the national carrier told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that all their inbound and outbound Paris flights have stuck to the original schedules.

A flight numbered VN19 departing from Hanoi for Paris landed safely at Charles de Gaulle Airport at 6:02 am on November 14 (Paris time).

Another flight, VN18, bound for Hanoi from Paris, was also scheduled to take off at 12:10 pm (local time) the same day.

The representatives added airports in France have functioned normally, though security has been tightened, which may take passengers longer to complete their check-in procedures.  

They cautioned that passengers get to airports in Paris at least three hours before their takeoff and make sure they have necessary identification papers on them.

Those interested can dial 84 4 913685496 to check information on flights to and from France.

Vietnam Airlines has also decided to offer their passengers refunds on returned tickets or change tickets purchased for flights between the two countries with no fees charged on two days, Saturday and Sunday.

The airline will provide updated information on their flight schedules and may add more assistance policies.

In a similar vein, Vietnamese travel firms have asserted to Tuoi Tre that their clients are holidaying in Paris all in one piece, as most of them were not present at the attacked venues.

Representatives of Vietravel, a major travel company, said they have taken measures to ensure their tourists’ safety.

Tourist groups from and to France are poised to depart as scheduled.

A 47-member tourist group left France for Vietnam on Saturday, while another 10 groups bound for European countries between Sunday and November 21 are set to stop over in France for sightseeing as originally planned.

Vietravel added it will keep its clients who have booked tours to France closely updated on activities of such tourism-related places as banks, airports, shopping malls as well as public services and transport means in  Paris in the aftermath of the attacks.

The firm will also supply counseling and help their clients switch to other tourist destinations in the event that turmoil lingers in the French capital.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that the country’s embassy in France has set up two hotlines, 00.33.67.7622624 and 00.33.66.3541759, to provide assistance for Vietnamese citizens if needed. These two hotlines, in coordination with the citizen protection switchboard 084.4.62844844, are ready to receive tip-offs about possible Vietnamese victims of the Paris attacks.

The embassy has also exerted effort to determine if any Vietnamese are among the victims.

Gunmen and bombers attacked restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium at locations across Paris on Friday, killing at least 129 people in a deadly rampage that a shaken President Francois Hollande called an unprecedented terror assault, Reuters reported.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for the attacks, saying it sent militants strapped with suicide bombing belts and carrying machine guns to various locations in the heart of the French capital, the British news agency added.

President Hollande called the coordinated assaults on Friday night an "act of war" by the Islamic State, according to AFP.

The French president also declared a state of emergency, ordering police and troops into the streets, and set three days of official mourning for the victims of the attacks, the French news agency reported.

Prosecutors said Saturday that French police have identified three teams of gunmen wearing suicide vests who were responsible for the carnage, according to AFP.

A 29-year-old Frenchman was the first to be confirmed among the seven attackers, all of whom died in the assaults, while two other men who registered as refugees in Greece have been linked to the atrocities.

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