The Vietnam-Australia aviation market handled more than 809,000 passengers in the first six months of 2026, up 11.5 per cent from the same period last year. Routes between the two countries maintained high load factors, averaging more than 83 per cent, indicating continued strong demand.
Vietnamese airlines are expanding their networks to Australia (Photo: Lam Giang).
The growth in air travel comes alongside closer ties between Vietnam and Australia. Since the two countries upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, air connectivity has taken on an increasingly important role in promoting economic co-operation, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.
Against this backdrop, Vietjet has announced a new direct route between Ho Chi Minh City and Western Sydney, due to begin on January 9, 2027. The airline will operate two return flights a week, making it one of the international carriers serving Australia's newest airport.
Nguyen Thanh Son, Vietjet's chief executive, said the airline expected the new connection to Western Sydney, a new international aviation gateway and emerging growth hub for Australia, to create greater flows of tourism, trade and investment between the two countries.
The new service will bring Vietjet's Australian network to five destinations: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Western Sydney.
Vietnam Airlines is also expanding its network in Australia. It currently operates five direct routes linking Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, using wide-body Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft.
Flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney and Melbourne operate daily, while Hanoi-Sydney and Hanoi-Melbourne services run four return flights a week. The Ho Chi Minh City-Perth route operates three return flights a week, bringing the airline's total frequency across its Australian network to 25 return flights a week.
Nguyen Quang Trung, deputy chief executive of Vietnam Airlines, said Australia was one of the key markets in the airline's international network development strategy.
The airline plans to increase frequencies on existing routes while studying the launch of a Ho Chi Minh City-Brisbane service, gradually completing its network in Australia, he said.
On August 10, Vietnam Airlines held an event in Australia to mark 35 years of operating flights between the two countries. The anniversary coincided with the airline's 35,000th flight and the arrival of its 7.5 millionth passenger on the routes since their launch.
Australia is also a major education destination for Vietnamese students and home to a large, long-established Vietnamese community. As a result, air travel between the two countries is not driven solely by tourism, but also by family reunions, study and work-related travel.
These forms of travel tend to remain relatively stable throughout the year and are less dependent on seasonal demand than conventional leisure tourism.
Simon Hickey, chief executive of Western Sydney International Airport, said Western Sydney was one of Australia's fastest-growing and most multicultural regions. More than half of the Vietnamese community in the wider Sydney metropolitan area lives there, with more than 70,000 people regularly travelling to visit family and friends.
He said this represented a clear indication of the sustained travel demand that the new route is intended to serve.