Vietnamese carrier to launch direct flight from Saigon to Bali

Starting May 29, private low-cost airline Vietjet Air will operate one return flight each on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Each flight will take around four hours.

Dubbed the Island of Gods and a paradise on earth with beautiful beaches, Hindu culture and vibrant nightlife, Bali has consistently been a top holiday choice for holiday-goers in Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.

In 2017, the U.S.-based travel magazine TripAdvisor named Bali among the top destinations in the world in its Travelers' Choice Awards.

Citizens of ASEAN member nations can travel within the region without applying for visa and stay as a tourist for a maximum of 30 days.

Budget carrier Vietjet Air is launching a series of international flights connecting Vietnam’s major cities with Asian tourist hotspots in an effort to meet growing holiday travel demand, especially during the peak summer vacation.

The carrier is planning to operate daily return flights connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo from July 12 onwards. The flight would take six hours each way.

From July 16, it will operate four flights a week connecting the beach resort town of Nha Trang in the central province of Khanh Hoa with South Korea’s Busan City, with a flight time of almost five hours.

Vietnamese carriers have been launching new international flights in recent years as outbound tourism surges while the domestic aviation market shows signs of saturation, industry insiders said.

According to Mastercard, Vietnam has the second fastest growing outbound market in the Asia Pacific region after Myanmar, with projected annual growth of 9.5 percent between 2016 and 2021.

Mastercard has forecast that 7.5 million Vietnamese travelers will travel outside the country in 2021. 

Vietnam’s aviation industry has been growing at the third fastest pace in Asia-Pacific region. It welcomed 12.5 million air passengers last year, up 14.4 percent from 2017, according to the General Statistics Office.

There are five airlines in Vietnam: state-owned Vietnam Airlines, Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) and budget carriers Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific and start-up Bamboo Airways.