India-Vietnam market: Hot, hot, and hotter!

With VietJet and Vietnam Airlines doing an 'Emirates' on India with multiple flights to multiple destinations, it is evident they look at the subcontinent as a key market. Is it a temporary relocation of routes till China opens completely again, or is it part of a long-term ambition to create a profitable hub in their home base?

- AMEYA JOSHI

In mid-July, VietJet- the iconic low-cost carrier from Vietnam announced a massive expansion into India. The airline which currently operates in Delhi and Mumbai is adding three more destinations in India. These three destinations are Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. This will be in addition to its current operations which see the airline operate to Delhi and Mumbai from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Phu Quoc.

This comes on the back of Vietnamese national carrier Vietnam Airlines launching flights to New Delhi from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. To go back in time, Jet Airways was the first airline to connect India with Vietnam. The airline did so with a one-stop flight via Bangkok. The flight did not last long. It was either too early or a one-stop via Bangkok competed with every other one-stop and wasn't attractive enough for passengers.

A lot has changed since then. The India-Vietnam market has been growing rapidly on the back of increased cooperation in the field of science, defence and a few other sectors and tourism remain a prime mover.

Flashback

After two years of announcements, VietJet launched flights to Delhi in December 2019. It aimed to be the first and only airline to connect the two countries when it first announced its flights. But IndiGo had taken that title! IndiGo launched flights to Vietnam in October 2019, two months ahead of VietJet. The largest private player in Vietnam, VietJet was expanding its horizons and so was IndiGo! The two airlines came with two opposite strategies. VietJet, targeted the largest market-New Delhi, with flights to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City while IndiGo offered services from Kolkata, making it the shortest flight between India and Vietnam.