National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines will move all its operations in Moscow from Domodedovo Airport to Sheremetyevo Airport as from July 2, 2019. 

Vietnam Airlines will move all its operations in Moscow to Sheremetyevo Airport as from July 2, 2019 (Photo: Vietnam Airlines)

A representative of the airline said on March 12 that the move is aimed at increasing connectivity among flights to destinations in Russia and Europe through the route network from Sheremetyevo, which is said to be the largest Russian airport in terms of passenger and freight traffic, take-off and landing operations and the capacity of the cargo facilities. 

When switching to Sheremetyevo, Vietnam Airlines will change the timetable of flights between Hanoi and Moscow to make them more convenient for passengers. 

Specifically, the flights will take off at 1:10 hours in Hanoi and 14:40 hours in Moscow. The airline will continue to use the wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliner on this route. 

Vietnam Airlines and Aeroflot are also planning to codeshare on domestic routes in Russia. 

Le Hong Ha, Executive Vice President of Vietnam Airlines said with a history of more than 25 years, the Vietnam-Russia service is one of the important routes operated by Vietnam Airlines. 

At present, Vietnam Airlines is operating three flights a week on this route. As of the end of 2018, the airline transported more than 1.6 million passengers between Vietnam and Russia. 

In 2018, more than 600,000 Russians travelled to Vietnam, the sixth largest source market of visitors to the Southeast Asian countries. The Vietnam Administration of Tourism forecast that the number will reach 1 million in 2020.-VNA