Hanoi-HCMC among world’s 10 busiest domestic air routes: report

The route connecting Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi and its southern economic hub Ho Chi Minh City has become the world’s fourth busiest domestic air route this year, down one place from last year, according to British aviation analysis company OAG.

Over 10 million passengers flew on the two-hour route, the company said in its latest report released this week that compiles data of seats between October 2022 and September 2023.

The busiest domestic airline route of 2023 is Jeju-Seoul with 13.7 million seats, followed by Sapporo New Chitose Apt-Tokyo with 11.9 million and Fukuoka-Tokyo with 11.2 million.

The route connecting Melbourne and Sydney came in fifth.

The rest of the top 10 were Beijing-Shanghai Hongqiao, Tokyo Haneda-Okinawa Naha, Jeddah-Riyadh, Mumbai-Delhi, and Jakarta-Denpasar (Bali).

According to OAG, Kuala Lumpur-Singapore was the world’s busiest international route this year with 4.89 million seats, followed by Cairo-Jeddah and Hong Kong-Taipei.

In 2023, the Hanoi-HCMC route is estimated to transport more than 9 million passengers, accounting for 22% of total number.

There are total 43,000 flights on the route, accounting for 17.5% of total domestic flights, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said.

Vietnam’s aviation industry has been witnessing signs of strong recovery, driven by robust tourism boom post-reopening.

Vietnamese airlines carried 74 million passengers this year, up 34.5% from the previous year, equivalent to nearly 94% of pre-pandemic levels, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said.

The country is set to serve 80.3 million passengers in total next year, up 7%. The number of international passengers is expected to surge 30% to 41.8 million.

Currently, there are 66 domestic routes connecting Hanoi, HCMC, Da Nang with 19 other provinces and cities with more than 600 flights per day.

Pham Van Thuy, deputy director of Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, said at a recent tourism conference that after two years of being affected by Covid-19, Vietnam's tourism has recovered and seen an upward trend.

The initial target of international arrivals set for the year was 8 million but later revised up to 12.5-13 million. The total number of international tourists this year is estimated at 12.5 million.

The number of domestic tourists is forecasted to reach 108 million, exceeding the yearly target by 5.8%.

However, aviation officials have warned a gloomy outlook next year due to soaring airfares and economic downturn that will see the number of domestic air travelers decline sharply.