International flight raises as Vietnam reopens

After two-year, international routes and services will be expand by domestic carriers this March after the government agreed Vietnam reopens with relaxed tourism policies.

Regular weekly round-trip flight between Danang and Singapore which operated by flag carrier Vietnam Airlines would resume with three flights per week from late March. Besides that, from April 15, flight route connects Phu Quoc and Nha Trang to Singapore also will resume.

There are 10 weekly flights between Ho Chi Minh City/Hanoi and Singapore currently operated by Vietnam Airlines but shortly will be increase to 21 per week from March 27. The airlines will resume flight to China with six flights weekly and three weekly flights to Indonesia from early July. It also plans to reopen services to Vietnam’s major tourism markets Japan and South Korea. Many commercial flights to Asian, US and Europe destinations are resumed from beginning of 2022. From Feb. 15, the carrier also resumed flights to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

Another Vietnamese carrier is Bamboo Airways has launched new routes connect Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City with Melbourne and Hanoi to Frankfurt route this month with one to two flights a week. Bamboo Airways expect to operate Hanoi-London route from March 22, HCMC-Sydney from March 29 with two weekly flights. The carrier also increased its frequency to two weekly flights on each of the Hanoi-Tokyo, Hanoi-Taipei and Hanoi-Incheon routes. Air tickets for Ho Chi Minh City – Bangkok route will be ready to sale from April 28, and one day later Ho Chi Minh City – Singapore route is available, with each having two weekly flights.

Vietjet Air representative said the low-cost airline would increase the frequency of routes connecting Hanoi, HCMC to Bangkok, Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul.

In the best-case scenario, Vietnam’s aviation industry would transport 42-43 million passengers in 2022, or around 50 percent of pre-pandemic numbers, Bui Minh Dang, deputy head of the air transportation department at the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, said.

Vietnam reopens its inbound tourism on Tuesday after nearly two years of closure and resumed its visa exemption policy for 13 countries, including Japan, South Korea and European countries.

The Ministry of Health said Wednesday foreigners entering Vietnam only need to furnish a negative Covid-19 test certificate and are not required to quarantine.

The test can be done using the RT-PCR method within 72 hours before departure or the rapid antigen process within 24 hours.

Those who cannot take a test before arrival have to be tested within 24 hours after entering and can leave their accommodation if not infected.