PHUKET, 6 September 2022: Vietnam Airlines returns to Phuket Island with twice-weekly flights following last week’s inaugural welcome by the island’s travel industry leaders.
The flights scheduled for Thursday and Saturday should boost leisure travel from Ho Chi Minh City after a two-year break. Flight VN9624 departs HCMC at 1000 and arrives in Phuket one hour later.
The return of flights from the southern Vietnamese city followed shortly after Malaysia’s FireFly resumed flights from Penang to Phuket in late August. The first flight FY3600 from Penang International Airport to Phuket International Airport arrived on 26 August. Using a Boeing 737 on the route, the airline offers direct flights from Penang to Phuket four times weekly on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
More airlines are serving Phuket, as confirmed by the Airports of Thailand’s flight schedules for September. Batik Air resumed direct flights from Kuala-Lumpur to Phuket in early August. AOT said the return of Batik Air was a “good sign of economic recovery in tourism that will mark recovery for Phuket”. Batik Air, previously branded Malindo Air, is a low-cost airline based in Malaysia.
Major Middle East airlines with global networks – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar – serve Phuket with direct flights out of hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. Singapore Airlines increases flights to three daily services starting this month. Other notable players include AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, Thai Vietjet, Jetstar Asia, Scoot, IndiGo, Air Astana and Malaysia Airlines.
