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we will fly the flag carrier of Vietnam , Vietnam Airlines ( VN ), on the popular Paris to Ho Chi Minh City route onboard their flagship , the Airbus A350 .
Specifically , on this 12-hour journey , we will dive into the Economy Class product , comparing the strongest and weakest characteristics of the flight , and discussing whether this type of service is economically sustainable for the airline .
VIETNAM AIRLINES FLIGHT VN10
Founded in April 1993 , Vietnam Airlines is the largest carrier in its home country . Diverging from industry trends , it operates
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with an uncommon system based on a dual-hub network .
Instead of concentrating its flights in a single hub , VN distributes its routes from Ho Chi Minh City ( SGN ) in the south ( the former Saigon ) and Hanoi ( HAN ) in the north , two cities that both hold significant demographic , economic , and political importance to the country .
Therefore , the most indemand trunk routes between Europe and Vietnam are flown twice : Paris , London , and Frankfurt are all simultaneously connected to SGN and HAN .
Maintaining this dual-hub methodology is challenging to
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say the least , because Vietnam Airlines needs to attend to the market needs of two large and complex hubs at the same time . Planning expansions for its fleet and routes can thus be difficult .
However , with almost 600 weekly flights in both directions , the Ho Chi Minh-Hanoi route is one of the busiest airbridges in the world precisely because VN has these two enormous hubs .
This time , we would be on board flight VN10 , the fourper-week connection between Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport ( CDG ) and Ho Chi Minh City . The overall trip takes 12 hours 20 minutes and is operated by Airbus A350-900s .
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2 Vietnam Airlines checks in and boards its passengers at Terminal 2 , which is famous for its state-of-the-art architecture .
3 Flight VN10 is one of the two trunk routes that Vietnam Airlines flies to Paris . The other , VN35 , connects CDG with the country ’ s other large city of Hanoi .
4 On every Economy Class seat , passengers find a pillow , a blanket , a pair of headphones , and a bottle of water .
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