Air New Zealand completes first direct flight to Vietnam

Air New Zealand has completed its first direct flight to Vietnam.

The plane left Auckland yesterday afternoon, and arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 8pm local time, just over 12 hours later.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce was on board with Vietnam's Ambassador to New Zealand, Viet Dung Nguyen.

The Vietnam route extends the airline's total number of international destinations to 30.