Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines is the flag carrier of Vietnam and a member of SkyTeam, operating from twin hubs at Hanoi's Noi Bai and Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat. Its fleet pairs Airbus A321neos on a dense domestic and regional network with A350s and Boeing 787s on long-haul routes to Europe, Australia and North America. It is the full-service counterweight to Vietnam's fast-growing low-cost sector.

Flying for Vietnam Airlines

The airline runs a sponsored cadet pathway rather than expecting candidates to arrive with a licence: selected cadets are sent abroad for a CAAV-approved integrated ATPL course — 43 Air School in South Africa is among its training partners — and return with a multi-engine commercial licence and instrument rating, an Airbus A320-family MCC and jet orientation course, and a route into line training on the A321. Experienced direct-entry pilots are recruited alongside the cadet intakes.

Because the airline funds the training, screening happens before a cadet ever flies, and it is correspondingly thorough: aptitude and psychometric testing, English-language proficiency assessment, a psychological evaluation, a class 1 medical and interviews. The cognitive batteries at the front of that process are the stage where most candidates are filtered out, and they are also the only stage that rewards preparation.