Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet Air opened its Hanoi – Bangkok route starting on June 1 in an effort to gain a bigger share in the growing Thai market.
It operates seven two-way weekly flights, charging 450,000 VND (21 USD) per customer for a one-way flight on the newly opened route.
The flight from Hanoi starts at 10:50am and arrives in Bangkok at 12:40pm. The return flight from Bangkok starts at 1:35 pm at Suvarnabhumi Airport and arrives at Noi Bai Airport at 3:25pm.
Tuoitrenews quoted Desmond Lin, Business Development Manager of VietJetAir as saying that the demand for travel between Vietnam and Thailand is increasing considerably nowadays, especially during the summer, while trade is also growing.
“This new route will help meet that demand and encourage further growth,” he added.
VietJet Air is targeting the growing Thai market with a plan to establish Thai VietJet Air, a 51-49 joint venture between Thailand’s Kan Air airline and VietJet Air.
The negotiation between the two parties on the establishment took place last week, but no more information has been announced lately, according to The Bangkok Post.
Thai VietJet Air is expected to operate its first flight in the next six months using two Airbus A320, it said.
VietJet Air is the second airline in ASEAN after Lion Air of Indonesia to target the potential budget airlines in Thailand.
The Vietnamese low-cost airline, which started to fly in late 2011 and mainly operates domestically, has six Airbus A320 and is ordering 20 more units.
Besides Thailand, VietJet Air is planning to open new flights to other regional destinations including Singapore, Inchon of the Republic of Korea, Narita in Tokyo, Japan and Taipei of Chinese Taiwan.