Vietjet plans to launch a direct flight from New Delhi to HCM City, commencing services in July or August this year.

Nguyen Bac Toan, Deputy director of Vietjet’s Commercial Department, made the announcement at SATTE 2017, South Asia’s leading travel trade show, which is under way in New Delhi.

“Seeing the growth of arrivals from the India market, we plan to launch direct flights to HCM City. The flight, scheduled for thrice a week, will take five hours and 30 minutes. This will cut down the transit time by 50 per cent, as it takes roughly 10 hours with stopovers,” The Financial Express quoted Toan as saying.

“The airline will operate Airbus A320 aircraft on this route, offering 180 seats. Initially the airline is looking to reach 80 per cent of load factor on both the routes and is hopeful to see the numbers increasing in the future,” Toàn said.

Toan mentioned that this is the first phase of Vietjet’s expansion plans in India.

“We are facing direct competition from other airlines on the same route, but we will be looking at partnerships with airlines to add more domestic connectivity within India. The second phase might see more frequency of flights and addition of other destinations within the country. India is a big potential market and we are looking to expand our network here,” he added.

In December last year, Vietjet and Air India signed an memorandum of understanding for co-operation to provide aviation services connecting the two countries.

Under the MoU, the two airlines will offer direct flights connecting HCM City and New Delhi. They will also jointly develop sales channels and implement bilateral tourism-trade activities, as well as share experiences and co-operate in personnel training. — VNS