Vietnam Airlines and Singapore Airlines are looking to strengthen commercial cooperation following the signing of an MoU on February 9.

The signing ceremony between two of the leading national airlines in the region took place on the sidelines of the Vietnam-Singapore Business Forum, which coincided with an official visit to Singapore by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

The forum was attended by Prime Minister Chinh, Singapore’s Minister of Manpower Tan See Leng, and senior officials from both countries.

Based on comprehensive cooperation and promoting the strengths of each party, Vietnam Airlines and Singapore Airlines agreed to expand bilateral cooperation to raise standards and bring the greatest benefits to passengers traveling between Vietnam and Singapore. They will also explore other areas of commercial cooperation that could offer more value and options to customers, such as codeshare cooperation for passenger and cargo transport, combining the flight networks of the two airlines, customer loyalty programs, ground services, engineering services, flight safety management services, and training programs.

“For many years, Singapore has remained one of the most important markets for Vietnam Airlines,” CEO Le Hong Ha said. “We hope to leverage our joint capabilities in many commercial fields and therefore provide a seamless experience to our passengers.”

Mr. Goh Choon Phong, Singapore Airlines’ CEO, commented that both airlines have “well-established networks” that can “strengthen the connectivity between the two countries and to key markets around the world.” The arrangement will help “support economic growth and bolster initiatives that facilitate tourism activities,” he added.

Vietnam Airlines currently operates daily flights to Singapore, with a frequency of one flight from Hanoi and three from Ho Chi Minh City using Airbus A321 and A350 aircraft.

Singapore is in Vietnam Airlines’ top 5 largest and most important markets, with the number of passengers flown between Vietnam and Singapore in 2019 reaching nearly 600,000, ranked by Skytrax as having 4-star service quality.