DOT TENTATIVELY AWARDS 3 U.S. AIRLINES WITH VIETNAM CODE-SHARE RIGHTS

DOT TENTATIVELY AWARDS 3 U.S. AIRLINES WITH VIETNAM CODE-SHARE RIGHTS    The U.S. Department of Transportation has tentatively granted rights to three U.S. airlines to provide air service to Vietnam through third-country airline partners.
   The DOT awarded U.S.-Vietnam code-sharing rights for 21 round-trip code-sharing flights to Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and United Airlines. Each airline got seven of the flights.
   The United States and Vietnam agreed in March 2000 to allow code-sharing services between their countries, either through U.S. and Vietnamese airlines or between airlines from either country and third-country airlines.
   Delta plans to code-share with its partner Air France for service to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Northwest expects to place its code on flights of Malaysia Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to the two Vietnamese cities. United said it would code-share with partners All Nippon Airlines, Thai Airways International and Lufthansa German Airlines for service to Ho Chi Minh City.
   The only existing U.S./Vietnam service is operated under a code-share arrangement between Vietnam Airlines an China Airlines, which uses the latter's direct service to the United States.
   The DOT will allow interested parties 10 days to file objections to the tentative code-sharing rights, and answers to objections are due five days afterward. The department will then issue a final decision.