Japanese airlines increase flights to HCMC as border restrictions lifted

ANA Holdings, the parent company of All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, has increased the number of flights connecting Tokyo and Ho Chi Minh City to five per week since this month, up from three, Nikkei Asia reported.

Before the Covid-19 outbreak, ANA covered the route with seven flights per week.

Japan Airlines also increased its number of flights between Narita International Airport and Tan Son Nhat International Airport to five per week, up from four.

Currently, domestic carriers are still operating one-way flights from Vietnam to Japan, carrying passengers wishing to work, study or stay in the country.

With increasing vaccination rates, Vietnam reopened to foreign tourists and is eyeing the resumption of commercial flights to 15 countries and territories including Japan from January.

Japan had 1.72 million foreign workers in October 2020, according to government data.

Vietnamese account for the largest foreign worker population in Japan at around 440,000 people, or nearly 26 percent.