Vietnam’s budget air carrier Vietjet launched the first direct route connecting Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam and Brisbane City in eastern Australia at an announcement ceremony held in Hanoi on Sunday.

The event was witnessed by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, who arrived in Vietnam on Saturday for a two-day official visit, the carrier said in a press release on Sunday.

After Melbourne and Sydney, Brisbane is the third Australian city to which Vietjet has opened direct flights.

The new route will be officially operational on June 16, 2023, in the context that Vietnam and Australia are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. 

The route, which is also the first one that connects Vietnam to Brisbane and Queensland State, will have two return flights per week on wide-body A330 modern aircraft.

Such direct flights will contribute to promoting trade between Vietnam and Brisbane, Queensland, and Australia in general, while further developing bilateral relations, according to Vietjet.

“We welcome new routes to Australia, especially Vietjet’s route, the first route connecting Vietnam and Brisbane, the beautiful city of Australia that will host the 2032 Summer Olympics,” Australian Prime Minister Albanese said at the ceremony.

The new route will shorten the travel time and create favorable conditions for people and tourists to fly between Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern economic and cultural hub, and Brisbane, Australia’s third-largest city.

Such direct flights are scheduled to take off from Ho Chi Minh City at 10:50 am and land in Brisbane at 9:55 pm.

The return flights depart at 11:30 pm and touch down in Ho Chi Minh City at 05:10 am the following day.

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