VietJet Air just dropped a new line on the world’s long-haul map — and it runs straight from Hanoi to Prague. Starting 10 October 2026, the Vietnamese low-cost carrier will fly an Airbus A330 twice a week between Vietnam’s capital and the Czech Republic, with a fuel and crew change in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

It is the boldest European push any Vietnamese airline has ever attempted, and it lands in a city — Prague — that has not had a direct connection to Southeast Asia for years.

A Stopover That Solves Two Problems at Once

The Almaty stop is not just a tactical fuel break. It lets VietJet sidestep the 1,500-mile Russian airspace closure that has forced every European-bound Asian carrier into an expensive southern detour. It also drops Central Asia’s largest city into VietJet’s network — a market the airline has been eyeing for years.

For Czech travellers, the route is a small revolution. Direct connections from Prague to Southeast Asia have been thin for the last decade. The pricing is expected to undercut the established Vienna and Frankfurt connections by a wide margin.

A Low-Cost Carrier Going Truly Long-Haul

VietJet is best known for cheap fares, beach destinations and the occasional eye-catching cabin-crew controversy. But the carrier has quietly built up a wide-body fleet that now allows it to push into Europe.

The Hanoi–Prague route follows VietJet’s smaller European pilot flights and an order book heavy with both Airbus A330neos and Boeing 737 MAXs. Last month the airline also signed for ten Chinese-built Comac C909 regional jets — making it one of the few carriers in the world flying Boeing, Airbus and Comac under the same roundel.

Why Prague, Why Now

Vietnam’s outbound tourism market is exploding. Prague has positioned itself as a cheaper European gateway than Paris or London, and the Czech capital has been on the rise as a destination for the new generation of Vietnamese travellers. There is also a growing Vietnamese diaspora in the Czech Republic — estimated at over 80,000 — providing a built-in visiting-friends-and-relatives market that few other European cities can match.

For now, it is two flights a week. If load factors hold, expect a daily.

Sources: Asian Aviation, VietJet press release.