Airlines in Vietnam have eagerly prepared to resume and launch new routes to China after the country announced it would reopen tours to Vietnam starting from March 15.
Chinese tourists in Danang City
Right after China eased flight licensing procedures and Covid-19 prevention measures last December, national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines resumed flights from Hanoi, HCM City to Guangzhou and Shanghai. Vietnam Airlines has also increased frequency on these routes and resumed the Hanoi-Beijing route since March 2023.
The national flag carrier is also planning to resume four routes connecting Danang to Guangzhou/ Shanghai/Chengdu, and Hanoi to Chengdu. Wide-body planes including Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 will be used for these routes.
A representative from Vietnam Airlines expected that passenger numbers between the two countries will increase again this year after tourism co-operation was resumed. He expressed the hope that authorities in the two countries would continue to ease restrictions so that more people could travel more easily between the two countries in the coming time.
"Chinese passengers make up 19 percent of our international passengers and China ranks among our top three biggest markets," he said.
Deputy general director of low-cost carrier VietJet Air, Ho Ngoc Yen Phuong, also said that 30 percent or five million of Vietnam's air customers come from China. She called on local authorities to ease visa policies to attract international visitors and Chinese in particular.
Pacific Airlines is currently operating two flights per week on the Hanoi - Hangzhou/Nanning route. The airlines will open two new routes linking Hanoi to Guangzhou and Fuzhou this summer.
Bamboo Airways has operated a direct weekly flight from Hanoi to Tianjin since last December. The airline has actively participated in Chinese tourism forums and aviation fairs. In the long term, Bamboo Airways targets operating between 20-30 air routes between Vietnam and China.
China has recently announced that it would officially resume tours to Vietnam beginning from March 15 after a three-year Covid-19 hiatus.
In 2019, the year before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam received 5.80 million Chinese visitors, making up nearly a third of all foreign arrivals to the country.
