News
Vietnam Airlines declares war in Vietnamese air market battle
May 20th 2016
Following the rapid ascent of budget carrier, VietJet Air, and its massive order backlog, flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VN) has come under intense pressure to maintain its position as the country’s leading carrier. Read More »
In response, the Ho Chi Minh-headquartered carrier will significantly boost its domestic and regional network with new schedules, more frequency and capacity increases.
Domestically, VN said it is planning to add up to 20% capacity by using widebody aircraft on existing routes, including its 22-daily Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh flights, the 15-daily Ho Chi Minh-Da Nang service and the twelve-daily Hanoi-Da Nang schedule service. Frequencies to Nha Thrang and Phu Quoc will increase.
Regionally, the flag carrier will boost its A321 Hanoi-Yangon and Ho Chi Minh-Yangon frequency from five-weekly to daily and will replace the ATR72 with the larger A321 on flights from Da Nang to Siem Reap and Hanoi to Luang Prabang.
Also planned is the upgrading of its Hanoi-Heathrow and Ho Chi Minh-Heathrow B787-9 routes from six-weekly to daily from July, respectively, to feed into its expanded domestic and regional network.
Vietnam is proving more popular. This week, while celebrating the 24th anniversary of its Guangzhou-Ho Chi Minh route, China Southern Airlines announced it would launch a thrice-weekly all-economy Guangzhou-Phu Quoc B737-700 rotation from July 6, followed by a three times a week Guangzhou-Da Nang service from July 8.
