Vietjet to fly direct between Brisbane and Ho Chi Minh City

The twice-weekly A330 service will operate as VJ83 on Mondays and Fridays, and the airline expects them to bring more than 30,000 Vietnamese visitors to Brisbane in the first year.

Vietjet’s Vice President, Nguyen Thanh Son, said the direct route is “a significant step towards connecting Australia and Vietnam”.

“With our recent introduced connecting services through Ho Chi Minh City and soon other Vietnamese hubs, Vietjet can bring more passengers from Asia and European countries to Australia,” he said.

“Moreover, Australians now will find it super easy and economical to fly across Asian nations across our vast international network, which serves destinations like Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, mainland China, Thailand, India, Kazakhstan, and other Vietnamese touristy coastal cities such as Da Nang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc.

“Our services would be a catalyst for the further growth of tourism and trade between the two nations in the coming year.”

Brisbane Airport’s chief executive, Gert-Jan de Graaff, added that Vietnam is “a rapidly growing market” for Queensland.

“To have Vietnam and the Sunshine State connected for the first time by non-stop flights will deliver benefits in two countries. This historic new service from Vietjet will enable family and friends in Vietnam easy connection to Queensland,” he said.

Brisbane will be Vietjet’s second Australian destination, with flights to Melbourne and Sydney launching three times per week return from next month.

The Vietjet route will be the first direct connection from Brisbane to Vietnam, with Melbourne and Sydney already connected to Vietnamese destinations by Jetstar, Bamboo Airways, and Vietnam Airlines.

Brisbane has been slowly rebuilding its international capacity since the majority of COVID travel restrictions were lifted earlier last year.

Australian Aviation reported in January how Emirates would add a second daily return service to Dubai from 1 June 2023, restoring the airline’s pre-pandemic service, while Qantas also restarted flights to Tokyo.

However, more generally, international tourist numbers continue to lag nationwide, with Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showing “short-term overseas arrivals” are still down 40 per cent on 2019 levels despite a $125 million global ad campaign in October.