Vietnam Airlines received its first Airbus A350 XWB in a handover ceremony held in the French city of Toulouse on June 30.

The national flagship carrier is the second airline in the world, after Qatar Airways, to operate the new generation aircraft.

Taken through leasing company AerCap, the aircraft will begin serving flights on the Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City route from July 3.

In October, the airline will operate the A350 on the Hanoi-Paris and Ho Chi Minh City-Paris routes after receiving the second and third aircraft.

As scheduled, Vietnam Airlines will have fourteen A350-900s, including 10 ordered directly from Airbus and another four from leasing firms.

Besides, the airline plans to use the new-generation Boeing Dreamliner 787-9 on the Hanoi/HCM City-London and Hanoi/HCM City-Frankfurt routes.

On July 24, Vietnam Airlines is scheduled to receive its first Boeing 787-9 of the 19 ordered Dreamliners.-VNA