Reopening Hanoi – Busan, Ho Chi Minh City route

On June 3, Vietnam Airlines carried out a flight to resume the route Hanoi – Busan (Korea) and became the first foreign airline to operate to Busan airport since Korea restricted it. flights to/from due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Passengers on flight VN427 Busan – Hanoi check in at Busan airport.

Flight VN426 departing from Hanoi landed safely at Busan airport at 07:59 (local time) with 148 passengers. After that, flight VN427 departed from Busan airport at 11:57 with 175 passengers on board.

Vietnam Airlines operates a flight route between Hanoi – Busan with a frequency of 3 flights/week, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.

Besides, from July 2022, Vietnam Airlines will reopen the Ho Chi Minh City – Busan route with a frequency of 4 flights/week and plan to operate daily flights between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Nha Trang. Page with the capital Seoul (Korea).

The airline promotes the exploitation of wide-body Boeing 787 aircraft on these routes.

On the same day, Vietjet resumed flights to Thailand’s “sea tourism paradise” Phuket. With 4 return flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, residents and tourists can easily travel between Ho Chi Minh City and Phuket with just 2 hours of flight each way.

Passengers at the check-in counter to fly to Phuket at Tan Son Nhat airport

The flight departs from Ho Chi Minh City at 9am and lands in Phuket at 11am (local time). The return flight departs from Phuket at 12 o’clock and lands at Tan Son Nhat Airport (HCMC) at 13:50. Vietjet is the first airline to reopen the Ho Chi Minh City – Phuket route, providing more options for travelers. customers when coming to Thailand next to the familiar destination Bangkok. Previously, Vietjet had restored routes connecting Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang with the capital Bangkok.

Earlier, Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam Dinh Viet Thang said that the aviation market has shown signs of recovery, but it is only in the domestic market while the international segment, which brings more than 60% of revenue for airlines. firm – still in trouble. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, by the end of 2022, the international market will need a long time to recover, the volume of international passenger transport will decrease by 72-80% compared to 2019.

Currently, although Vietnamese and international airlines have restored most of the routes to traditional markets, the number of international passengers is still mainly official, visiting relatives and business. The number of tourists (including in-bound and outbound passengers), the main source of visitors of the aviation industry is still very limited.

However, the director also said that besides exploiting the great potential of the domestic aviation tourism market, airlines also need to expand to exploit the international market.

With the full opening of the roads international flight traveled to Vietnam from March 15, 2022, and most recently, the removal of the requirement for Covid-19 testing for people entering Vietnam from May 15, 2022, Vietnam is one of not many countries. soon implement measures to open doors, loosen entry regulations for international visitors to stimulate tourism demand.

Currently, more than 50 countries have implemented measures to open up, relax entry regulations, and this creates conditions for international visitors and their own citizens to travel as an objective factor and a basis for international travel. Favorable base for Vietnam to implement the open-door policy to attract tourists.

At this time, when many countries and territories have not yet opened their doors, especially countries in Northeast Asia such as China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan (China) are still maintaining With the entry restriction measures at different levels, the choices of tourists cannot be as diverse as before the pandemic and the advantage will belong to the destinations that open early with the opportunity to promote and refresh the image. travel photos, attracting the attention of tourists. In addition, Vietnam has restored the entry visa policy, exempting visas for citizens of 13 countries, including Western European countries and this will attract tourists from these countries.

From this perspective, it can be seen that there are many positive signals for the recovery and development of international tourism to Vietnam and this is an opportunity for airlines to gradually restore their flight operations. internationally and is a premise for the full recovery as well as expansion and development of international mining activities.

Duong Ngoc