Vietjet Air on May 28, 2026 announced one of the most ambitious additions to its long-haul portfolio yet β a brand-new service connecting Hanoi to Prague via Almaty, Kazakhstan. The route is scheduled to commence on October 10, 2026, and will be operated by Vietjet's Airbus A330 aircraft at an initial frequency of two return flights per week, departing every Tuesday and Saturday.
The new HanoiβPrague service represents Vietjet's first scheduled link between Vietnam and the Czech Republic, deepening the carrier's foothold in Central Europe after a wave of European expansion in 2025β2026. By routing through Almaty, the carrier intends to combine traffic flows between Vietnam, Kazakhstan, and Central/Eastern Europe β a strategy similar to the one-stop models used by gulf carriers, but operated by a low-cost airline using widebody equipment.
Vietjet has been aggressively diversifying away from its purely intra-Asia, narrowbody origins. The carrier introduced widebody A330s on long-haul missions starting in 2023 and has since pushed into markets including London, Milan, Frankfurt, and now Prague. Industry analysts note that Czech Republic-Vietnam visitor numbers have grown sharply over the past three years, with strong demand from the substantial Vietnamese diaspora in Prague, estimated at over 80,000 residents β the largest Vietnamese community in Central Europe.
For Prague Airport, the addition is a significant win. The Czech capital's airport has been working aggressively to rebuild its long-haul portfolio after the pandemic decimated its intercontinental network. The Vietjet flight will be the only nonstop-ish (one-stop) service linking Prague directly with Vietnam, opening up cargo and tourism opportunities on both ends.
The A330 deployed on the route will be configured in Vietjet's two-class long-haul layout featuring 12 business class flat-bed seats and approximately 290 economy seats. Tickets are expected to go on sale across Vietjet's distribution channels in early June, with introductory promotional fares anticipated.
Compiled from publicly available aviation news sources. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. This article is original editorial content; facts have been verified across multiple public sources.
Comments
Loading commentsβ¦