VietJet Air will enter Bangkok in February and hopes to capture a slice of the Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City, especially among budget air travellers who for the moment can only fly low cost with Thai AirAsia.
HANOI- VietJet Air, Vietnam’s low-cost carrier (LCC) and the only one fully privately owned carrier in the socialist state, is scheduled to begin a daily flight between Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, its first international route, on February 10. This first route will then be followed with the introduction of a Bangkok-Hanoi route, also on a daily basis, in May 2013 as VietJet gears up its international expansion with a fleet of brand-new A320 narrow-body jets with 180 seats.
The carrier said that he does not want to compete with Thai AirAsia, which has been the dominant low cost player on the market between Thailand and Vietnam for the last six years. But a promotional fare of THB 99 (US$ 3.30) offered during a few days following the announcement of the new flight did not go unnoticed.
TAA replied by launching over the week-end a special 0 Baht promotion. The low cost giant recently ramped up flight frequencies to Ho Chi Minh City, offering up to three daily frequencies per day.
VietJet will however provide connections to nine domestic routes as the carrier connects Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi to Nha Trang, Danang, Vinh and Hai Phong, Hue, Da Lat and Phu Quoc.
Interestingly to notice, VietJet was originally the joint venture that AirAsia was supposed to set up in Vietnam and which finally never materialized due to polemics over the name. Back to 2010, AirAsia Bhd announced in February 2010 that it planned to purchase a 30% stake in VietJet through a joint venture agreement.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
