The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines successfully operated two flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Moscow, Russia, and vice versa, on the night of April 19.

The airline is scheduled to resume several flights to Russia and France starting from the evening of April 20.

However, the airline said that while French authorities have reopened two-thirds of its airspace in the south, its airspace in the north remains closed, reducing the total possible number of flights to the country to 50 percent of normal.

Due to airborne volcanic ash from Iceland , Vietnam Airlines was forced to cancel 21 flights from Vietnam to Russia , Germany and France over the past five days since April 16, trapping over 6,400 passengers at airports, according to the airline’s statistics.

The carrier says it will take five days running a total of 24 flights to transport all the trapped passengers if the skies reopen.

It plans to add three flights on April 20, three on April 21, four on April 22 and three on April 24.

The elderly, children, women and passengers whose flights were cancelled on the first day, are prioritised, according to Vietnam Airlines./.