Vietjet looks to remain as largest airline operating between Vietnam and China in 2023

Hanoi (VNA) - China’s moves to resume international tourism from January 8 next year are believed to be a positive sign for aviation activities between Vietnam and China.

Nguyen Thanh Son, Vice President of Vietjet, said: “After China lifts pandemic prevention restrictions and the tourist visa policy between the two countries is resumed, Vietjet will prioritise reopening air routes to China, firstly the flights from major economic and tourism hubs of Vietnam to populous cities of China, in 2023. Our goal is to completely restore the network of flights to China to pre-pandemic levels in the first six months of 2023, thereby retaining the position of the leading operator of commercial flights between the two countries and continuing to raise the flight number by 20-30% from the pre-pandemic period to nearly 100 flights per day by the end of 2023.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietjet was the leading airline in terms of the number of routes between Vietnam and China, accounting for about 50% of the total between the two countries. As of the start of 2020, it had connected six cities of Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Da Lat, and Phu Quoc) with over 50 provinces/cities of China such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Kunming, and Xi’an, with nearly 80 flights per day at its peak.

Vietjet has been quickly resuming air routes linking Vietnam with Chinese destinations since October 2022, with those from Ho Chi Minh City to Hangzhou and Chengdu being the first. At present, it is operating five air routes from HCM City to Hangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Wuhan.

China has just reopened its door after many years while the tourist visa between the two countries has yet to be resumed, so the number of visitors remains limited. Vietnam and China have just granted visas for diplomatic, labour, commercial, and studying purposes.

To meet the demand for safe and quality international travel after the pandemic, Vietjet recently put into use wide-body aircraft A330, aside from the existing modern A321 and A320 fleet, along with the SkyBoss Business ticket class that features many exclusive privileges and priorities, including private cabins and a diverse menu with hot and fresh meals and a wide range of beverages. Travel and healthcare products, services, and conveniences on Vietjet aircraft are also being introduced widely to passengers on the carrier’s flights to India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan (China), etc./.