Vietnam resumes regular flights to China starting Sunday

Vietnam Airlines plans to resume all flights between Hanoi and Nanjing and Shanghai, as well as between HCMC and five other major Chinese airports: Shenzen, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Sichuan and Guangzhou. There will be six flights to each destination each week.

Starting in March, the national flag carrier will increase its flight frequency to Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Vietjet Air will also resume flights between HCMC and Shenzen, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Sichuan and Wuhan, each with six flights per week. Starting January 23, VietJet will launch flights between Cam Ranh and Changsha, as well as Chengdu.

Pacific Airlines will open routes between Hanoi and Hangzhou and Nanning, with two flights a week each. The airline also has plans to resume flights to Guangzhou and Fuzhou starting this summer.

Bamboo Airways will recontinue its route between Hanoi and Tianjin with only one flight a week. But the airline plans to launch six new flight routes to China this summer.

Vietravel Airlines currently has no flights to China, though it plans to begin chartering flights from Cam Ranh and Da Nang to Hangzhou.

The Chinese market for air travel is still unstable as passengers are still wary of the pandemic, as well as the fact that the economy is not in good shape, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV). Passengers in this first phase are expected to mainly be those on official businesses, business people and students. Without many tourists, CAAV reports that the air market between Vietnam and China will not recover immediately.

In order to foster recovery, Vietnamese airlines have suggested relaxing visa policies for Chinese tourists.

On December 30 last year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced that restrictions on regular international flights to the country had been lifted, and airlines may resume international flights with flight frequencies following bilateral agreements.

Right now, to enter China, passengers need to have certain papers required by Chinese authorities, such as a PCR test results 48 hours before the flight.