National carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced its plan to launch direct flights from Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City to London by the end of this year.The Vietnam News Agency quoted Chief Executive Pham Ngoc Minh as saying on Tuesday that air travel demand between the two countries has increased due to strengthened economic and trade relations over the past few years.he UK is one of the leading trade partners of Vietnam in the European Union, he said.

Minh said nearly 90,000 English tourists came to Vietnam last year, an increase of 28 percent over 2009.Direct flights will also benefit the Vietnamese community in the UK, including 7,000 students and more than 40,000 others currently living and working there, he said.Vietnam Airlines plans to operate four flights per week first and increase this to seven flights weekly in 2014, the news agency said.