Vietnam Airlines upgrade just four months after Milan-Hanoi launch: away goes the 787-9, in goes the A350-900
All Nippon Airways, Thai, Eva Air and Vietnam Airlines. There are as many as four Far East airlines that in the [...]
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Vietnam
All Nippon Airways, Thai, Eva Air and Vietnam Airlines. As many as four airlines from the Far East have launched direct connections with Milan Malpensa in the past two years.
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A mass 'landing' that is certainly related to the absence of a 'home carrier' at the Lombard airport, but which also testifies to how much Asian destinations are 'pulling' these days among northern Italian travelers.
Not for anything else, Thai Airways has replaced the 264-seat Boeing 787-8 (24 Business and 240 Economy) with which he had inaugurated the connection to Bangkok on July 1, 2024 With a more capacious 298-seat 787-9 (with 30 seats in Business and 264 in Economy).
Eva Air from Jan. 16 will make the current four-weekly connection daily To and from Taipei, introducing in the near future also Premium Economy on the 787-9s with which it serves Malpensa..
And proving how excellent the demand from the Lombard airport to the Far East (and beyond) is, came the news in recent hours (spread by the specialized website aeroroutes.com) that Vietnam Airlines, just four months after the launch of the Hanoi-Milan-Hanoi route, has announced that it will replace the Boeing 787-9 that is operating the route with a more capacious Airbus A350-900 starting Oct. 28.
The changeover had been planned by the Vietnamese carrier for March 31, 2026, but evidently strong demand on the route prompted it to bring forward the upgrade by five months. Both the Boeing 787-9 and Vietnam's A350-900 are set up in three classes, but while the eleven B787-9s inforze to the Asian company offer 274 seats (including 28 in Business, 35 in Premium Economy, and 211 in Economy), the fourteen A350s have 305 seats on board (29 in Business, 45 in Premium Economy, 231 in Economy or 29 in Business, 36 in Premium Economy, 240 in Economy depending on configuration).
A similar move is now expected from Thai, which will already almost a year ago hinted at the possibility of replacing the 787-9 with the A350-900 on the Bangkok-Milan-Bangkok.
