Vietnam's low-cost carrier VietJet recently started two more flights to India, connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat. The airline has aggressively expanded into India this year, and the latest routes provide more options for passengers from West India looking to fly to Vietnam.
Ahmedabad gets direct services
On September 29th, VietJet started two direct flights to Ahmedabad (AMD), connecting the city with Hanoi (HAN) and Ho Chi Minh City (SGN). This is the first time that Vietnam has been linked with Gujarat by a direct commercial flight.
The flights operate as per the following schedule:
Ho Chi Minh City to Ahmedabad
- Flight no: VJ1805
- Departure: 19:00
- Arrival: 22:50
Ahmedabad to Ho Chi Minh City
- Flight no: VJ1806
- Departure: 23:50
- Arrival: 07:00
Hanoi to Ahmedabad
- Flight no: VJ1925
- Departure: 19:00
- Arrival: 22:40
Ahmedabad to Hanoi
- Flight no: VJ1926
- Departure: 23:40
- Arrival: 05:50
Both return services will operate four times a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Big on India
Vietnam scrapped all quarantine and other COVID-related travel restrictions earlier this year to boost the country's tourism industry, and India seems pretty high on its list. It wasn't too long ago when Indians had to take connecting flights to reach Vietnam, but currently, there are many non-stop routes available between the two countries, many of those offered by VietJet.
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Two of the most recent routes include Phú Quốc – an island and tourist beach destination – to Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM). Before 2019, barely anyone from India traveled to the island. But VietJet is keen on experimenting and creating route opportunities as it doubles down on India.
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The carrier has been steadily launching new flights from India this year. Direct services from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Mumbai started on June 3rd and 4th, with three and four weekly return flights, respectively.
The services between Ho Chi Minh City/Hanoi and New Delhi resumed on April 29th and April 30th, respectively, with a frequency of three weekly return flights on each route. In June, the airline also announced that it would soon begin flights from the coastal city Da Nang to five Indian cities – New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad.
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It's also interesting to note that the number of Indians applying for a Vietnamese visa has increased 24-fold compared to pre-COVID years when Vietnam issued about 250 visas a day. After the pandemic, that number has gone up to 6,000 per day.
Fleet development
Regional routes are clearly quite important to VietJet. It currently operates an all-Airbus fleet for short and long-haul flights. But that will change in a couple of years with the introduction of Boeing's 737-10 MAX aircraft.
During an investor presentation for the first half of 2022, VietJet confirmed that the first of the 200 planes on order will start arriving from 2024, and the delivery schedule will be complete by 2028. The first 50 units are expected to be for Thai affiliate Thai VietJet Air.
With the airline aggressively expanding in a post-COVID phase, the addition of the 737 MAX aircraft is expected to help bolster its network in regional Asia routes, including those in India.
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