Vietnam Airlines inaugurated direct flights between Vietnam and the United Kingdom in 2013.

Vietnam Airlines inaugurated direct flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to London Gatwick on the 08 December 2013.

Vietnam Airlines transferred their London flights from London Gatwick to London Heathrow at the start of the IATA 2015 summer season on the 31 March 2015.

Vietnam Airlines is part of the Skyteam alliance and is the national flag carrier for Vietnam.

​​​​​​I'm sure that Heathrow Airport Limited would like Vietnam Airlines to remain at the United Kingdom's major hub airport.

Can HAL over rule ACL in situations like this?

The Vietnamese carrier Bamboo Airways were given temporary slots at LHR during the pandemic but have since relocated to LGW.

If indeed Vietnam Airlines do lose their LHR slots then it will surely be a loss to the airports airline portfolio meaning that the United Kingdom's major hub airport will no longer have direct flights to Vietnam.

I don't think that STN is really suitable for Vietnam Airlines, a return to LGW would have been a better option. If the airline does indeed relocate from LHR to STN I can't see it lasting for long. It will more than likely be a similar situation to when Garuda Indonesian relocated from LGW to LHR. For most airlines that would have been a successful move but it wasn't the case for GA.

See earlier link. ACL is Heathrow's contractor for slot allocation. Who do you think calls the shots ?

Why do you think that, out of interest?

There are a few airlines I’ve long thought don’t particularly need to be at LHR and VN are one of them. I doubt they provide much feed this end and the network their end is limited, mainly domestic which is most likely leisure dominated.

It wasn't anything personal or to the detriment of London Stansted Airport.

Having previously served LGW prior to relocating to LHR I would have thought that the former would have been the preferred option rather than STN.

Vietnam Airlines a SkyTeam alliance member and an airline with all the benefits of Terminal 4 at LHR, only LGW can only really replicate that.

I agree with your assumption regarding some airlines currently serving LHR although there are not many.

But in my opinion I don't include Vietnam Airlines in that very short list.

STN is a fantastic airport and I wish there was more long haul destinations but I honestly can't understand why Vietnam Airlines would look at STN over a return to LGW.

STN is great for Emirates for various reasons and I can't understand why Jetblue have totally overlooked the airport.

If for example Vietnam Airlines did indeed move to STN it could in some way be a catalyst for others to do the same, even if it was a split operation with LHR. "Ethiopian Airlines springs to mind as I type that".

Your synopsis misses out key ingredient Vietnam has access to the ENTIRE Sky network, massive VFR leisure and cargo demand 400 or so miles south in Paris .

Heathrow ( London) isn’t their biggest European market by any stretch.

And the key ingredient of losing $1m a day last year. If they can't afford to be at LHR, and just want to serve London maybe they got a better offer from STN.

I think it would be odd for LHR to actively look to lose a daily long haul flag carrier flying a B789 long haul in favour of adding (for example) another Eurowings A320 to Germany. What's the footfall and retail revenue comparison? I hope some kind of accomadation might happen.

I wasn't suggesting that LHR was Vietnam Airlines biggest European market. No where in my post did I mention that. And of course I'm totally aware of the fact that Vietnam Airlines serve CDG, A SkyTeam fortress.

Its obvious that your not getting my point.

The point is, why would HAL want to lose a long haul flag carrier to a country unserved by any other airline.

FYI....It's only 290 miles between LHR and CDG, not 400 or so miles.

Yes agreed .

Plenty of carriers over the years have been “forced” out of Heathrow and some yet returned . As other have said it’s not bilaterals here is simply availability of slots and frankly HAL couldn’t care less for the users of slots or indeed number of carrier's

If they did they would demonstrate that by persuading BA ( IAG) to widen their portfolio beyond the “bazillion” US cities and towns into more of the developing economies ( They can’t as the carrier and parents rightly make there route decision based their own bottom line !)

We are returning to a more normal ACL and slot allocation process.

As for the pedantry on the mileage - pff and just a distracting technique.

The fact is Vietnam aren’t an important carrier especially in the UK market , indeed given there financial condition , retrenching to Paris and allowing AFKL to distribute would probably help their bottom line and reduce the losses.

Do HAL have any say in the matter?

HAL have the ability to significantly discount fees for a carrier-route combination if it's likely to bring in a lot of retail spending in shops in departure area

...assuming the airline is in possession of slots which allow them to operate into LHR

HAL do care about who uses the slots, that's why they have a pricing model that penalises smaller aircraft. They want Emirates 6 x daily A380s before a similar volume of ATRs.. Losing two long haul destinations in SGN and HAN is something I would say they care about, maybe just not enough to intervene. Does anyone know by how much they missed the use it or lose it criteria? It's not as if they've been absent from LHR entirely.

Best post by far, absolutely spot on.

Yes HAL can offer inducements/disincentives but they have no control over slots or there use. Do we know Vietnam have lost slots through use it or l;ose it? Lots of other possibilities - where did the slots come from? If leased maybe the owner wants them back or they can't justify the cost.

Vietnam got newly created slots back in 2015
https://aviationweek.com/heathrow-re...lines-services (paywalled article but in the 'snippet' it mentions LHR worked with NATS to create the slots)

Yet can’t provide slots as ACL determine those, so that’s sort of a fool’s errand.

Conversation
Hi Air Xyz I’d love for you to serve abc and I’ll give you a preferential rate for terminal services .

Customer does that include slot access?

HAL well only if you can fit in Saturday evening at 2130,
Otherwise it’s out to market for you , or wait in the ACL queue !

That was my point about BA ( IAG) really; they obviously prefer heavy land fees over an ATR sure; however they don’t particularly care about where they come or go from ( indeed because of other agencies they can’t !)

Yet they want a network ( well actually politicians do ) yet can’t accommodate the range of feeders others can . Yes that’s the foundation of the third runway debate however let’s be honest the domestics haven’t been a roaring success have they ?

It’s a double bind,, when a part of your business strategies are either impacted by price capping and/or the prime operating asset ( long strips of concrete) is managed by another .

They create new slots every so often with the help of NATS and modified airspace utilisation however they aren’t for the benefit of any specific carrier !

That a pure fluff piece .