The India-Vietnam connection

The India-Vietnam tourism sector is flourishing in the post-pandemic era with many airlines entering the fray.

- AMEYA JOSHI

This July, there will be three airlines which will connect India and Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines - the state-owned airline of Vietnam has launched flights to Delhi from Vietnamese capital Hanoi and Vietnam's largest city Ho Chi Minh City. The surprise factor? The flights are operated with widebody aircraft with the state-of-the-art Airbus A350 being deployed on thrice a week service from Hanoi and twice a week service from Ho Chi Minh City.

The newfound love for connectivity between India and Vietnam is on the back of increasing trade between the two countries and cooperation on multiple fronts including defence. India has extended a line of credit to Vietnam and delivered a couple of fast patrol boats manufactured in India for the defence forces of Vietnam. There have been high-level connections at government level and visits between chief of services.

Vietnam Airlines will be the third carrier to operate nonstop between India and Vietnam, a market which was traditionally one-stop with flights via Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. Such one-stops are going to put pressure on the respective hubs of Thai Airways, AirAsia Bhd, Malaysian Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

With bilateral rights restricted to 28 frequencies per week from each side, the Vietnamese carriers are competing hard to corner a larger share of that frequency. For a network carrier like Vietnam Airlines, it also opens up a new opportunity that of connecting traffic.

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