BENGALURU- India and Vietnam have witnessed a rapid rise in air travel demand. This has led to an expansion of the bilateral air service agreement from 28 to 42 weekly flights. The increased bilaterals, as highlighted by senior network planner Behramjee Ghadially, are primarily driven by the growing interest of Indian tourists.
Over the past few years, destinations like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have seen surges in Indian visitors. Many Indian travelers are now exploring Vietnam as their next international destination after having extensively visited Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Photo: By Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia – Vietnam Airlines, VN-A895, Airbus A350-941, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73574532India-Vietnam Segment Growth
With VietJet Air having launched its new Ho Chi Minh City – Bengaluru and Hyderabad route, let’s have a look at what the overall India-Vietnam market looks like. VietJet Air’s new flights from two of the south Indian cities mark a milestone.
This move has now added Bengaluru and Hyderabad to the list of cities with non-stop flights to Vietnam, along with Delhi and Mumbai.
In 2024, here is the point-to-point (P2P) passenger demand between India and key Vietnamese cities:
- Hanoi (HAN), Ho Chi Minh City (SGN), and Da Nang (DAD) grew at a magnificent margin by 50% compared to 2023.
- The total number of passengers surged from 620,000 in 2023 to 950,000 in 2024.
- This growth has been fuelled by airlines such as IndiGo, Air India, VietJet, and Vietnam Airlines. Over the last few months, airlines have increased both frequency and capacity on major routes, particularly on Mumbai and Delhi to Vietnam routes.
Photo: Mumbai Planes | Siddh DhuriBelow are the largest and fastest-growing city pairs:
- Breaking down the data, routes like Delhi-Hanoi and Delhi-Ho Chi Minh City have seen the most significant passenger growth. Delhi-Hanoi passenger demand has risen from 93,000 in 2023 to 125,000 in 2024. Similarly, Delhi-Ho Chi Minh City saw an increase from 74,000 to 124,000 passengers.
- Mumbai has also seen growth in the passengers. Mumbai-Hanoi passenger demand has risen to 86,000 passengers, and Mumbai-Ho Chi Minh City demand has reached 97,000.
- Apart from Delhi and Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata have shown impressive growth. The growth seems to be largely due to the availability of direct flights by VietJet and IndiGo.
- Ahmedabad-Ho Chi Minh City saw an increase from 30,000 in 2023 to 53,000 passengers in 2024, with marginal growth in the Hanoi sector.
- At the same time, Kolkata-Hanoi grew from 62,000 to 75,000 passengers, while Kolkata-Ho Chi Minh City grew from 65,000 to 72,000.
Photo: Siddh Dhuri | MumbaiPlanesCompetition and Future Opportunities
Air India, which operates the Delhi-Ho Chi Minh route, has an advantage. Air India offers convenient connections for passengers traveling onward to Europe and North America via Delhi. This strategy of targeting connecting passengers is beneficial during the low season when demand for direct India-Vietnam travel declines.
IndiGo and VietJet, on the other hand, continue to focus primarily on India’s P2P demand. However, Vietnam Airlines has the potential to capitalize on connecting traffic between Australia and Asia. With the growing passenger interest, there is an opportunity through its hubs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The surge in India-Vietnam travel shows a shift in Indian tourist preferences. More and more Indians are now seeking new international destinations, beyond the conventional destinations in Southeast Asia. With the expanded bilateral agreement, flights between India and Vietnam will grow even further in the coming years.
IndiGo will soon foray into the European market. With the increasing European and UK demand from/to Hanoi, IndiGo should explore a Delhi-Hanoi flight with a focus on connecting passengers via Delhi. Additionally, with a strong hub in Bengaluru (BLR), IndiGo may introduce nonstop flights from Bengaluru to Vietnam utilizing the expanded bilateral agreement.
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Vietnam Airlines Adds New Flights to Bengaluru and Hyderabad
The post India and Vietnam Market Sees Surge Amid 42 Weekly Flights Bilateral appeared first on Aviation A2Z.
