Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has announced it will launch daily flights to Ho Chi Minh City effective 01 October 2013.The new service to Vietnam’s commercial capital has been planned to cater to the increase in travel demand spurred by the countries growing economy.In conjunction with its partner airlines, the new service will extend the airlines total flight network to 21 ASEAN destinations.The new service will also make it the airlines sixth online destination within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.

A two-class A330-200 aircraft, with 22 business seats and 240 economy class seats will serve the flights between Abu Dhabi and Ho Chi Minh City.Etihad Airways president and chief executive officer James Hogan said they are pleased to introduce the city of Ho Chi Minh to the airlines network.The route will be ideal to carry passengers and cargo point to point from the United Arab Emirates, as well as from Etihad Airways destinations in the Middle East. Europe, and North and South America,” Mr Hogan said.Additionally, the new services will also support joint UAE and Vietnam government projects in areas of energy, infrastructure, tourism and civil construction.Etihad Airways has a strong South East Asian network and the addition of daily services to Ho Chi Minh City underlines our commitment to this region that continues to experience strong commercial growth across many industries, especially tourism, manufacturing and technology.HE Tran Ngoc Thach, Ambassador of Vietnam to the UAE said that the new service would strengthen the understanding between the people of Vietnam and the UAE as well as increase trade and tourism.