Air Australia was also seeking “unlimited capacity” between points in Australia other than Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to Vietnam.

Air Australia said the allocation of capacity would be fully utilised by February 28, 2013.

Vietnam Airlines and Qantas Airways’ low-cost offshoot Jetstar were the only two airlines to offer flights between Australia and Vietnam.

Air Australia, formerly known as Strategic Airlines, was due to begin services to Honolulu next month from Brisbane and Melbourne, and already operated to Bali and Phuket.