Tigerair Taiwan aims at service expansion in Vietnam

Danang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, all offering attractive sandy beaches, are included among the service plans of Tigerair Taiwan, the island’s only low-cost carrier.

The Taiwanese LCC made the city of Danang its first destination in Vietnam on December 24. The first flight touched down at Danang International Airport on Saturday night with 170 passengers from Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei.

“Vietnam is a key market for our future operations,” Tigerair Taiwan president Chen Han Ming said at Danang airport.

“We plan to launch our services from Taipei to Nha Trang and Phu Quoc in the first half of 2023,” he said.

For Danang, Tigerair Taiwan operates two flights per week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Danang is the largest city on Vietnam’s central coast and one of the country’s most important ports, marking the half-way point between Hanoi in the north and Ho Chi Minh City in the south. The city also serves as an important sea gateway for Vietnam’s Central Highlands and an east-west economic corridor connecting Vietnam with neighboring Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar.

Like Danang, Nha Trang in the central province of Khanh Hoa is also a popular tourist destination. It is 450 kilometers north of HCMC, with Nha Trang Bay one of the world’s most beautiful.

In the south, Phu Quoc, dubbed Vietnam’s pearl island, is part of Kien Giang province. It is one of the country’s most popular destinations for water sports.

In a related development, Taiwan’s EVA Air returned to Danang on December 1 with daily A321 flights after a hiatus of more than 2.5 years because of the pandemic. EVA said it was seeking to have more than 42 flights per week to Hanoi, Danang, and HCMC, as it did prior to the pandemic, EVA said.

EVA operates 10 weekly flights between Hanoi and Taipei, and two weekly ones linking HCMC with Taipei.