Vietnamese carriers primed to resume international flights

Bamboo Airways, the latest addition to Vietnamese carriers, is set to resume its international operations from July 1 with routes to Northeast Asia, connecting Hanoi with Taiwan and the South Korean capital of Seoul, deploying seven round-trip flights per week for both routes.

The carrier also plans to fly from Da Nang City and Cam Ranh in Khanh Hoa Province to Seoul in September, with the frequency of 14 round-trip flights per week, while routes connecting Vietnam with Japan and Europe will resume in October.

Starting October 25, Bamboo Airways plans to resume flights between Vietnam and other Asian countries. The routes connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Taiwan and Seoul will return to seven round-trip flights per week; while those connecting Hanoi and HCMC with Kansai region in Japan will have 14 round-trip flights per week.

The airline also plans seven round-trip flights per week on the Ho Chi Minh City - Tokyo and Hanoi - Beijing routes, while those connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with Thai capital Bangkok will have 14 roundtrip flights per week.

For its October schedule, Bamboo Airways is also hoping to reconnect with European countries and Australia. The plan is to operate three round-trip flights per week on the Hanoi - Prague (the Czech Republic) route as well as on the Hanoi/HCMC - Munich (Germany) routes, starting October 25.

The same day, the carrier will restart Hanoi/HCMC – Melbourne/Brisbane (Australia) with a total frequency of eight round-trip flights per week.

Nguyen Ngoc Trong, Deputy General Director of Bamboo Airways, said the carrier has been working with the related agencies and authorities to complete the flight protocols to operate international flights as soon as the situation in other countries returns to normal.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has also announced plans to revive international operations from July 1. Some of the first international flight routes operated by the carrier will connect Hanoi and HCMC to regional destinations like South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Laos, and Cambodia.

A Vietnam Airlines’ representative said they will announce the official plans after finishing due procedures with related authorities.

Meanwhile, a VietJet Air representative said they were drawing up a plan that follows instructions from the government and related authorities and will soon resume its commercial international flights to countries that have contained the Covid-19 pandemic well.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had previously assigned the National Steering Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control the task of identifying safe destinations where no new Covid-19 infection has been spotted for 30 days. The preliminary destinations being considered are Seoul, China’s Guangzhou, Tokyo, Taiwan and Laos.

The Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC) has estimated that the number of international visitors to Vietnam in 2020 will decrease by about 69 percent year-on-year and gradually recover from 100,000 visitors per month in July to 600,000 visitors per month in December.