Bamboo Airways Begins Hanoi-London Gatwick Service

Vietnamese carrier Bamboo Airways has made further inroads into London by launching direct flights to its second-largest airport – London Gatwick. The airline has introduced several new flights lately and also invested in IT solutions to add to its growth story. Its London Gatwick flight was highly anticipated, giving more options to passengers in Vietnam to travel to London.

Hanoi to London Gatwick

On October 30th, Bamboo Airways launched its first direct flight between Hanoi (HAN) and London Gatwick (LGW). Flight QH 93 took off at 00:07 and landed in London at 06:55 local time after traveling for 12 hours and 53 minutes.

The airline deployed its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft offering a three-class configuration including premium economy and a business class product that features flat beds.

The carrier had started selling tickets for this once-weekly flight months ago on its official website as it looked to offer passengers more options on this popular sector amid increasing competition.

Growth story

Bamboo Airways has been aggressively pursuing its international ambitions for a while now. In September last year, it became the first Vietnamese airline to launch a commercial passenger flight to a US destination, flying its 787-9 between Hanoi and San Francisco (SFO). The US government had approved the carrier to conduct up to 12 round trips between Vietnam and the US until November.

In February, it began Ho Chi Minh City – Melbourne and Ho Chi Minh City – Sydney flights, and by April, it had launched its second route into Melbourne, Australia, with its Hanoi – Melbourne service.

Photo: Boeing

The same month, Bamboo also launched a new route to Frankfurt (FRA) from Hanoi, marking the airline’s first regular scheduled services to Europe. A month later, it launched its first commercial service to London Heathrow from Hanoi, nearly a year after securing the slots at the airport. It began its second route to Germany in June, connecting Frankfurt with Ho Chi Minh City.

Just recently, the airline also made its Cambodian debut by flying from Hanoi to Siem Reap on August 7th. The inaugural flight was operated by an Embraer E190 aircraft.

Investing for efficiency

Bamboo Airways has witnessed remarkable growth this year. While the airline was launched almost four years ago, four out of its top five months for total number of flights were in 2022, with 5,600 flights scheduled during January 2022, according to schedule data from Cirium.

To help optimize operations, the carrier signed an IT services agreement with Amadeus recently and will use its Altea Passenger Service System. It is used by more than 200 airlines globally and will help Bamboo’s frontline employees when assisting passengers with bookings.

Bamboo will also receive 11 more aircraft to add to its existing fleet of 30, which have an average age of 8.1 years, per ch-aviation.

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