RMIT Vietnam students returned home through Bamboo Airways partnership

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RMIT Vietnam students returned home through Bamboo Airways partnership

An inaugural Bamboo Airways flight from Australia to Vietnam has repatriated 270 passengers, including 180 RMIT Vietnam students, staff and business partners who had been waiting to return home after COVID-19 disrupted their travel and study arrangements.

Working closely with Vietnam’s Embassy in Australia and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, RMIT helped to negotiate the repatriation flight, which was the first for Bamboo Airways since the signing of memorandums of understanding between the airline, Melbourne Airport and RMIT last year.

The charter flight arrived in Van Don, Quang Ninh Province on Sunday 6 September where a total of 270 passengers began two weeks’ mandatory hotel quarantine before continuing home

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Working closely with Vietnam’s Embassy in Australia and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, RMIT helped to negotiate the repatriation flight for 270 passengers, including 180 RMIT students, staff and business partners. (Image: Bamboo Airways)

Also on board were Australia Awards scholarship recipients and their families, students from other Victorian educational institutions and business leaders supported by the Australian Chamber of Commerce Vietnam (AusCham).

The RMIT students and staff had been in Melbourne as part of a cross-campus mobility program that sees 400-500 students travel to Australia each year.

RMIT Vietnam Chairman, Professor Peter Coloe said, “We are committed to supporting our students to learn wherever they are, and this year that has meant supporting them to study remotely, finding new ways of accessing the tools they need and, in this case, assisting them to safely return home.”

The University also reached out to its network of business partners to let them know the flight was available for their skilled foreign experts and investors to return to Vietnam.

Professor Coloe said it was pleasing to see the partnership with Bamboo Airways already at work and benefiting both RMIT and the wider community.

Bamboo Airways Deputy General Director Nguyen Ngoc Trong added: “As this was the first flight between Melbourne and Vietnam, it was an important step to help the airline develop a regular direct route between Hanoi and Melbourne in 2021.”

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The flight was operated on Bamboo Airways’ most modern and largest aircraft, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. (Image: Bamboo Airways)

Coordination of the flight was supported by AusCham, other Victorian universities and FLC Group (Bamboo Airways), as well as local accommodation providers in Vietnam, with strict safety requirements implemented at all stages.

The flight was operated on Bamboo Airways’ most modern and largest aircraft, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with all cabin crew adhering to strict COVID-19 regulations and fully equipped with medical protective gear.

All passengers tested negative against SARS-CoV-2 using the RT-PCR method three to seven days before the flight. They were required to complete pre-boarding health checks and medical declarations at Melbourne Airport, and wore face masks for the entire flight.

After landing in Vietnam, the passengers have been following local quarantine requirements, including completing more SARS-CoV-2 tests.

Professor Coloe thanked the Vietnamese Government, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh Province and the Vietnam Embassy in Australia for their strong collaboration to enable the safe return of RMIT students and staff.

For the RMIT students, completing the mandatory quarantine will allow them to return to campus in Vietnam in time to start the new semester.

With many students impacted by ongoing travel restrictions, RMIT has been working hard to minimise study disruptions, leveraging its global campuses to provide flexible study options and support services.

This has enabled students enrolled in RMIT programs in Australia but unable to travel to have access to student facilities on the Vietnam campuses.

Story: Grace Taylor, Maddy Pattinson and Ngoc Hoang

Campus and community

Media Release

11 September 2020