Officials at San Francisco International Airport waved off the first non-stop service between Vietnam and the United States. The landmark new service has been more than 20 years in the planning.
The SkyTeam alliance member has been trying to launch US flights for years and opened a US representative office two decades ago. The FAA only granted Vietnam a Category 1 safety rating just before the pandemic.
Vietnam Airlines will run two flights a week to Ho Chi Minh City initially, but plans to increase that as tourism in Asia recovers.
The airline hopes to expand to other US cities
The Bay Area has the second largest Vietnamese population in the US.
