Korean airlines boost services to Vietnam

South Korean airlines, both low-cost and full-service, are increasing their flights to Vietnam, the second-most popular travel destination among Koreans.

South Korea's largest low-cost carrier, Jeju Air, will resume daily flights on routes between Incheon and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City beginning April 20, the company has said. The routes have been suspended since March 2020 amid the spread of the coronavirus.

The Jeju Air restoration means its flights to Vietnam increase to 46 weekly. Its current services to Vietnam are Incheon-Danang, Incheon-Nha Trang, Busan-Danang, and Muan-Danang, flying 32 times a week.

Asiana Airlines and Korean Air, two full-service Korean carriers, will also ramp up their service frequency to Vietnam. Flag carrier Korean Air plans to add more flights for HCMC and Danang from April, with operations between Incheon-HCMC increasing to 21 from the current 18 weekly, and from 11 to 14 on the Incheon-Danang route.

On March 10, Asiana Airlines increased its flight services between Incheon and Danang to seven times a week from four. The carrier plans to offer 12 weekly flights to Hanoi in May, up from 10 at present.

In February, the most visited destination from Korea was Japan, with 678,979 passengers, according to Air Portal run by the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Vietnam came second 316,647 with passengers, equal to 14.3% of the total number departing Korea via airlines, and the amount was 21.2 times higher compared with a year earlier.

Vietnam fully re-opened to international travelers in mid-March 2022 during the post-pandemic period. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested the expansion of Vietnam’s visa waiver scheme to increase tourist arrivals. He also sought better conditions for airlines at domestic and international levels to open routes to Vietnam and encourage tourists to visit the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam’s current policy enables citizens from 13 countries namely South Korea, Japan, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Belarus, Germany, the U.K., Spain, and Italy to visit Vietnam exempted from visa requirements for a 15-day stay.

Vietnam’s tourism sector expects to welcome 110 million visitors this year, of whom eight million are foreigners, eyeing VND650 trillion ($27.64 billion) in total revenue. Many tour operators and experts are of the view that more efforts and measures are needed to reach these targets.

Flag carrier Vietnam Airlines cooperated with Air France to resume codeshare flights between Vietnam and France on Sunday. A codeshare agreement between the two carriers was implemented in 2017, but related flights were suspended due to the pandemic.

The resumption on March 26 strengthens the connection between the two carriers’ hubs, Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

This March, Vietnam Airlines resumed flights between Hanoi and Beijing with three flights per week. It also increased the frequency of flights connecting Hanoi and HCMC with Guangzhou and Shanghai. Each of these routes added from 1-2 flights, to four flights per week.

The carrier will in April reopen four routes including Danang with Guangzhou, Shanghai and Chengdu, and Hanoi to Chengdu, with a frequency of two flights per week on each route.