Vietnamese low-cost airline VietJet has announced that it will launch flights to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The airline is currently on a India expansion spree. The announcement comes after VietJet recently launched flights to Mumbai in addition to Delhi.
Presently, VietJet connects Mumbai and Delhi to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Phu Quoc.
Ahmedabad
Beginning early September 2022, VietJet will operate 4-flights-a-week between Hanoi and Ahmedabad. Starting sometime in early October 2022, VietJet will operate 4-flights-a-week between Ho Chi Minh City and Ahmedabad. Finally, starting sometime in December 2022, the airline will connect Da Nang with Ahmedabad 4-times-a-week.
All of these flights will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft.
It’s a good thing for Ahmedabad that is getting connectivity to a new country ahead of Chennai and Kolkata, both of which are more larger than Chennai. The reason could be that Ahmedabad is one of the 18 cities under Air Services Agreement with countries in ASEAN which allow open-skies.
What’s more interesting is that Ahmedabad is getting more weekly frequencies to Vietnam than Bengaluru!
Bengaluru
Bengaluru will have nonstop flights to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.
Starting sometime in November 2022, VietJet will operate 4-flights-a-week from Ho Chi Minh City to Bengaluru, 2-flights-a-week from Da Nang to Bengaluru and 4-flights-a-week from Hanoi to Bengaluru.
Again, all of the flights will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft.
Hyderabad
Hyderabad will have the same number of weekly frequencies to Vietnam as that of Ahmedabad (i.e. 12).
Starting early October 2022, VietJet will operate 4-flights-a-week from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to Hyderabad while 4-flights-a-week from Da Nang to Hyderabad will be operated starting late November 2022.
All of the flights will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft.
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Increased competition
VietJet will serve 5 destinations in India once these flights begin. These are Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. Flights will be operated from 4 cities in Vietnam – Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Phu Quoc (it is not like VietJet will connect every city in Vietnam with every city in India).
Vietnam Airlines entered the Indian market last month with flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Delhi. The airline, at the time of announcement, marketed the flights as Airbus A350 flights. However, the airline has not been able to maintain frequencies and many flights have been cancelled. In addition to this, the airline has mostly been flying Airbus A321 aircraft.
On the other hand, Indigo became the first (and currently the only) Indian carrier to launch flights to Vietnam. The airline has been operated flights from Kolkata to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for quite some time. However, it has not looked to expand beyond these two routes in the India-Vietnam market.
With VietJet not operating to Kolkata and Vietnam Airlines not able to maintain flights to Delhi, VietJet has established itself as a monopoly carrier in the India-Vietnam market. The airline has been expanding aggressively and is not looking back!
It only remains to be seen whether these new routes will be sustainable in the long run and whether these markets will develop. One thing is for sure, with VietJet offering such cheap fares (from ₹6000 ($75)), the market will be easier to develop.
Featured image by Wikimedia Commons
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