Vietnam reopens air border after two years

In preparation for welcoming international visitors next March, Vietnam reopens its air border and officially resumed flights to all markets without restrictions on frequency.

For the first time after two years, Vietnam has fully restarted international flights. All the restrictions on the frequency of international flights were ended by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV).

However, the CAAV said resuming scheduled flights still requires approval from markets that had direct flights to Vietnam before the pandemic, as each country has different pandemic prevention requirements.

Domestic and foreign airlines will have permits for transporting passengers once the CAAV receives a response from these markets.

Round-trip regular commercial flights between Vietnam and some cities which includes Bangkok, Beijing or Guangzhou, Phnom Penh, San Francisco, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo, and Vientiane were allowed by the government on January 01.

So far, only China has not yet agreed to resume flights to Vietnam as the country of more than 1.4 billion people pursues its zero-Covid policy.

Dozens of thousands of overseas Vietnamese have gone back to Vietnam to celebrate the traditional Lunar New Year after flights to Australia and Europe were resumed.

Following the removal of restrictions on international flights, Vietnamese carriers have begun announcing plans to resume their international network.

Bamboo Airways, a new Vietnamese carrier announce that flights from Hanoi to Narita, Taipei, and Incheon has operated.  They plan to bring back daily flight to Thailand and Singapore next month. The carrier also preparing to reopen more flights to Laos and Cambodia to serve the upcoming peak travel season this summer when Vietnam reopens air border.

Right now, passengers can buy Bamboo Airways tickets for flights Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City to Australia, Germany, and the U.K.

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airline has reopened regular flights to 15 countries with the frequency of one to two weekly flights to Europe and four-five flights a week to Asian destinations. Flight to Malaysia also is planned to come back next month.

Budget airline Vietjet Air began flying to Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan from Jan. 1 with one weekly flight on each of these routes and plans to increase the frequency to four-five flights a week.

Vietjet Air is also working with relevant agencies to prepare for the resumption of flights to India and Russia.

Right now, visitors with fully vaccinated or recovered from Covid only need to self-isolate 3 days after arrival.

Except for children below two, all passengers are required to show negative PCR test within 72 hours before departure.

According to CAAV, foreign passengers could produce Covid vaccine passports or other documents that prove they have been fully vaccinated.

Vietnam closed its borders and grounded international flights in March 2020, allowing in only citizens, foreign experts, investors, and highly-skilled workers entering on special flights. The country hope to restart tourism industry next month.