Vietnamese carriers open new routes as year-end tourism heats up

Vietnam’s largest carriers - Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air – have launched new routes to international tourist hubs to cash in on growing demand during the year-end travel season.

Budget carrier Vietjet Air on Sunday launched two new international routes connecting Hanoi and Indonesia’s Jakarta, and Phu Quoc island with South Korea’s Busan.

The Hanoi-Jakarta service will have four round-trips a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with a flight time of more than four hours.

The airline will operate seven return flights on the Phu Quoc-Busan route, with the flight taking five hours and 30 minutes.

Hanoi and Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, are top tourist destinations in Vietnam.

Vietjet on Tuesday held the inaugural ceremony of a direct route connecting Hanoi, Vietnam capital city, with the heritage city of Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The airline will operate the Hanoi-Siem Reap route to serve passengers from December 15, with seven round-trip flights per week. The flight time of each leg is one hour and 45 minutes.

Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific Air of the Philippines last week launched a direct flight between Manila and popular beach destination Danang in central Vietnam.

China’s Sichuan Airlines launched Friday a service between Sichuan province’s Chengdu city and Vietnam’s Hanoi.

The Chengdu-Hanoi air route will have one daily return flight, using the Airbus A320/A321a. It takes around two hours to fly from Chengdu to Hanoi.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines on December 7 launched a direct flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Perth, making it the second Vietnamese carrier to fly non-stop to the Australian city after Vietjet.

The service, which uses wide-body aircraft Boeingg 787, has three return flights per week.

A Vietnam Airlines spokesman said they will increase the frequency to five flights per week in 2024, adding that the airline plans to open one more route connecting Perth and Hanoi.

Addressing the launch ceremony, Rebecca Ball, senior trade and investment commissioner of Australia in Vietnam, said the launch of the new route was a significant milestone as the two countries celebrate the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.

Australia was one of Vietnam’s biggest sources of tourists before the pandemic.

So far this year, Vietnam has welcomed 353,000 Australian tourists, making it the ninth largest market for the country’s inbound tourism.

Vietnam received 1.23 million foreign visitors in November, the highest monthly figure since it reopened its borders in March last year after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of foreign visitors to Vietnam so far this year has topped 11.2 million, far higher than the annual target of eight million, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

South Korea is now the largest source of tourists (3.2 million) this year, followed by China (1.5 million).