Air Canada Wants in as New Deal Enables 1st Direct Flights Between Canada & Vietnam

The federal government has announced an expanded air transport agreement with Vietnam, Canada’s largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The expanded agreement was announced by Prime Minister Carney as part of the new Strategic Partnership between Canada and Vietnam.

The deal allows for direct flights between Canada and Vietnam for the first time. The government says this is a direct response to significant growth in the bilateral air market and in support of Canada’s Trade Diversification and Indo-Pacific strategies. 

Air Canada quickly issued a statement praising the deal and saying it plans to begin flying to Vietnam next year.

“Vietnam is an important market in the broader Canada-Southeast Asia relationship. We welcome this expanded Air Transport Agreement and look forward to obtaining the necessary government approvals to begin service to Ho Chi Minh City,” said Mark Galardo, AC’s EVP & Chief Commercial Officer.

The expanded agreement includes:

• Up to 14 weekly passenger-combination flights per country.
• Up to 7 weekly all-cargo flights per country.
• Fifth freedom rights for all-cargo flights (the ability to operate flights between two foreign countries if the flight either starts or ends in the airline’s home country).

Canada and Vietnam share strong people-to-people ties, supported by a Vietnamese Canadian community of approximately 275,000 people generating growing demand for tourism, business, education, family travel, and air connectivity.

Canada is actively diversifying trade beyond North America and aims to double its non-U.S. exports within a decade, positioning itself as a reliable trading partner of choice in the Indo-Pacific.