17 October 2016

Vietnam Airlines has introduced a range of new and enhanced services to support passengers with reduced mobility, providing additional assistance and convenience for people with disabilities, walking difficulties, impaired hearing or vision, and the elderly or infirm, when passing through airports or when boarding or disembarking from Vietnam Airlines flights.

In order to facilitate the enhanced services, Vietnam Airlines has put 80 fully equipped, international standard wheelchairs and 11 forklifts into use across airports in Vietnam, while specially trained, experienced staff are on hand to provide support and assistance. At London Heathrow and other overseas airports, these services and facilities will also be provided for free by Vietnam Airlines via local operators. The airline's twin-aisle aircraft - including the next-generation Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that operates its daily non-stop services from London Heathrow - are designed to have smart and user-friendly restrooms. 

Free services will be available to passengers including personal wheelchairs, and carriage of guide dogs on all domestic and international Vietnam Airlines flights. Comfortable priority seating will also be allocated, in accordance with all safety requirements. Passengers with limited mobility simply need to register their special status when booking in order to benefit from these services, with newly reduced registration deadlines of just eight hours' notice for domestic flights and 24 hours for international flights. 

With a view to opening up more travel opportunities for passengers with disabilities, Vietnam Airlines has also introduced preferential fares on its domestic network - offering a 15 per cent discount on all full fare economy class tickets, and on selected promotional economy class tickets. For further information and reservations visit www.vietnamairlines.com.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

As the national flag carrier of Vietnam, headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam Airlines operates 94 routes to 21 domestic and 29 international destinations with more than 360 flights daily. Operating a young fleet, mainly comprising Boeing 777s, Airbus A330s and Airbus A321s, the airline is expanding its fleet with next-generation aircraft such as Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Airbus A350-900 XWBs. It become the first airline to operate the new Boeing 787-9 nonstop between Southeast Asia and Europe, and the first Asian airline to operate both Boeing and Airbus' modern next-generation aircraft at the same time.

2015 also saw the launch of Vietnam Airlines' fresh new livery, corporate identity and branding, and the switching of its UK operations from Gatwick to Heathrow in what was a transformative year of development for the airline. A member of the SkyTeam Alliance since 10 June 2010, Vietnam Airlines was also the first representative of the alliance in South East Asia.

Vietnam Airlines offers the UK's only nonstop flights to Vietnam, with daily services from Heathrow Terminal 4 to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam Airlines' nonstop services from the UK are carefully scheduled to offer convenient overnight flights in both directions, and excellent onward connections via its comprehensive network of over 40 destinations in Asia, including 23 within Vietnam and Indochina as well as China, Japan and Taiwan. Return fares from Heathrow to Ho Chi Minh City currently start from £395 per person, inclusive of taxes. For further information and reservations visit www.vietnamairlines.com or speak to a travel agent.

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