HANOI, 27 April 2022: Vietjet Air builds a competitive edge over other airline players in Vietnam with a substantial expansion of services to India during May and June.
On Monday, Vietnam’s low-cost airline confirmed new routes from three destinations in Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the island of Phu Quoc) to Delhi and Mumbai in India, two key outbound travel markets.
Details of the flights were released just two weeks after the announcement confirming approval for direct flights made by Vietnamese and Indian officials.
The expansion to India starts on 2 June with a four-weekly service on the Hanoi to Mumbai route, followed a day later by three flights weekly from Ho Chi Minh City to Mumbai.
Flights from Vietnam’s holiday island Phu Quoc which lies in the Gulf of Thailand bordering Cambodia, will start later in September. The airline will fly three weekly services from Phu Quoc to Mumbai on 8 September, followed by a day later with three flights weekly from Phu Quoc to Delhi.
The two services from Phu Quoc to Mumbai and New Delhi will significantly increase travel arrivals from India to the island resort and ensure it can compete with its nearest revival Phuket Island in South Thailand.
Before the two-year pause in travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India was a marginal market for Vietnam, limited in scope because of the lack of direct flights. Vietjet addresses that drawback by linking city and holiday island destinations in Vietnam with the key outbound travel markets Mumbai and Delhi in India.
A Hanoi Times report posted on the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism’s website noted that VietJet Air has flown limited commercial flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to New Delhi. It has also organised charter flights from Vietnam to Bodh Gaya, an important Buddhist pilgrimage site in northern India. In the meantime, the airline will introduce ad hoc Hanoi-New Delhi and Ho Chi Minh City-New Delhi flights on 29 and 30 April and follow on with more flights in May, raising frequencies in early June.
In 2019, India’s IndiGo operated direct flights from Kolkata City to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to establish the first direct flights between Vietnam and India. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Indian visitors to Vietnam grew by 28% in 2019, mainly due to direct flights.
(Source: VNAT with background Hanoi Times).
