Vietnam Airlines was awarded the First-class Independence Order on July15 to mark two decades of operating domestic and international flights.

The airlines also received a certificate of merit bythe Prime Minister for its significant contributions to nationaldefence, security, socio-economic development and internationalcooperation.

The award came in conjunction with theparent company Vietnam Airlines Corporation’s 4th congress onpatriotic emulation campaigns.

Addressing theceremony, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang said Vietnam Airlines isamong few flight operators who own the world latest fleet generationsincluding Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-9.

It isproof that once a company boasts determination and ambition based onpassengers’ interest, it can achieve any goal, declared Thang.

Vietnam Airlines was officially established at the behest of the PrimeMinister on May 27, 1995, when the country re-organised its aviationsector.

By 1995, it had a fleet of 25 aircraft andserved 25 international and 18 domestic routes. By the end of 2015,these figures are expected to increase to 85 aircraft operating in 57international routes and carrying passengers to 29 destinations as wellas 37 domestic routes to 21 destinations.

During theperiod, Vietnam Airlines operated over 1.39 million flights and earned12.5 trillion VND (576.03 million USD) in pre-tax profits, contributingmore than 30 trillion VND (1.38 billion USD) to the State budget.

Thanks to all these efforts, Vietnam Airlines has become an officialmember of the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) andachieved IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) standards when it came toquality of service. It joined the SkyTeam Alliance in 2010.-VNA