Quite a bit has been written about Vietnam airline, Vietjet, and its entry into the Australian market. Words changed to action last night when the airline’s first Australian flight landed at Melbourne Airport.
Melbourne International Airport (MEL) is the first of three Australian destinations announced by Vietjet, with services also scheduled for Sydney and Brisbane. All three flights will operate from Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City International Airport (SGN) using Airbus A330 widebodies.
Photo: VietJet
Vietjet flight VJ81 departed Ho Chi Minh City yesterday at 11:33, operated by a 2008 model Airbus A330-300, registration VN-A811 and MSN 00974. The jet covered the 6,683 kilometers (4,150 miles) to Melbourne in 8:21 hours, landing in the Victorian capital at 22:55.
After a relatively brief turnaround, the A330, adorned with the distinctive Petrolimex Aviation sticker, left Melbourne this morning at 02:29 on flight VJ82 to Hanoi. It was quickly back into service at 09:20 on a service to Vietnam’s capital city airport, Hanoi Noi Bai International (HAN). The aircraft regularly flies between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and when operating internationally to Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT).
Another new airline at MEL
The service will operate three times weekly, with arrivals into Melbourne on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and departures to Ho Chi Minh City at 00:30 the following day. The aircraft used last night was initially delivered to AirAsia X in December 2008 and joined Vietjet in January this year. It remains in its original two-class configuration of 12 seats in SkyBoss business and 365 in economy.
Photo: Kittikun Yoksap | Shutterstock
Melbourne Airport’s chief of aviation, Jim Parashos, said that Vietjet’s arrival would significantly boost seat capacity to Vietnam and increase choice for passengers heading to the region.
“Victorians can’t get enough of visiting Vietnam, it has consistently been one of our top 10 international destinations. Low-cost fares will make the trip even more appealing to leisure and business travellers, and of course, people wanting to connect with family and friends at both ends of the route.”
For nearly 50 years, Melbourne has been home to a very large Vietnamese community, which presents Vietjet with a ready-made market for its low fares model. Adding even more demand are the nearly 10,000 Vietnamese students enrolled at Victorian educational institutions, one of the state’s largest international student populations.
Making a big play for the Australian market
Given the size of the market opportunity and the extremely low introductory fares, it is probable that Vietjet is going to be a success in the Australian market. Already the airline has plans to increase Melbourne flights to daily by December 2024, which represents an annual increase of 136,000 seats on the route.
Photo: VietJet
VietJet is starting services between Ho Chi Minh City and Sydney later this week and is planning to launch direct flights to Brisbane in June. The Brisbane Airport (BNE) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) service will be the first nonstop flight between Queensland and Vietnam and is scheduled to begin on June 16th, with flight VJ84 departing from Brisbane Airport at 23:10 and arriving in Ho Chi Minh City at 04:50 the following day.
Have you flown with Vietjet yet? Please let us know in the comments.