Viet Nam’s Bamboo Airways details US, Canada route plans

Bamboo Airways (QH, Hanoi) submitted an application for a Foreign Air Carrier Permit (FACP) and an exemption to begin its long-touted services to the United States, although it does not seem to plan to fly non-stop. The carrier said it intends to serve the US from both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City via Taipei Taoyuan, Osaka Kansai, and Nagoya Chubu (with no traffic rights between Japan and the United States). On the American side, the carrier said it intends to serve Los Angeles Int’l, San Francisco, CA, Dallas/Fort Worth, Seattle Tacoma Int’l, and an unspecified airport in New York. It added that it would like to continue services via the US to Vancouver Int’l, Toronto Pearson, and Montréal Trudeau in Canada. It also applied for a permit to add a total of 25 destinations in the US and beyond under a code-share agreement with an unnamed US or third-country carrier(s). Its Viet Nam-US services will also code-share with an unspecified “major American carrier”. Using its B787-9s, Bamboo Airways intends to begin transpacific operations with services to Los Angeles and San Francisco in the third quarter of 2021. It has already secured the necessary airport slots, which, according to the Vietnamese media, are due to launch on September 1, 2021. It said it would initially operate 4-7 return flights per week without delving into specifics. The carrier was authorised in October 2020 to operate 12 charter flights to the United States, but has so far not flown any. Bamboo Airways is majority-owned by its Chairman Trinh Van Quyet, who controls a 56.5% stake. Quyet also owns tourist holding FLC Group which, through various subsidiaries, holds a further 37.8% in the airline. Rival Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi) secured its FACP in 2019 and plans to begin services to the US (from Ho Chi Minh City via Anchorage Ted Stevens to San Francisco) on August 3, 2021, using A350-900s.