“Our international flight routes to Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore and to European countries would use wide-body aircraft. Bamboo Airways finished negotiations on international flight routes with partners in Japan and the RoK to prepare for long routes in 2019,” Thang added.

The RoK will continue to be a key market for Vietnamese airlines. In addition to current routes connecting Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang to Seoul and Busan, Vietnamese airlines planned to open new routes from Nha Trang and Phu Quoc to Jeju, Muan, Cheongju and Yangyang in the Republic of Korea.

Currently, Vietnam’s aviation market has 11 airlines exploiting the two countries’ flight routes including nine from the Republic of Korea and two from Vietnam with 469 flights per route a week.

Last year, the number of passengers travelling by air between the two countries reached 7.7 million with the seat occupation rate of 87.6 percent. Of which, Vietnamese airlines accounted for 32 percent of the market share. 

Bamboo Airways is part of the Viet Bamboo Airlines Company based in the city of Quy Nhon in Binh Dinh province. The company, owned by property developer FLC Group, was established in 2017 with charter capital of 700 billion VND (31.4 million USD).