Vietnamese leisure start-up Vietravel Airlines began operations on the 25th of January. It flew from Ho Chi Minh City (the largest city in Vietnam) to southwestern Vietnamese island Phu Quoc. Phu Quoc is part of an archipelago of 22 islands close to the Cambodian border. The island has a permanent population of 180’000 people and posesses a national park, as well as a Swiss business management school. It has attracted 372 business and investment projects with a total investment of $16.5 billion. Vietravel Airlines will soon begin large-scale operations to major Vietnamese cities, such as Hue and Da Nang, the latter of which is the 4th largest city in Vietnam, with a population of 1.1 million. The airline is owned by Vietnam tour operator Vietravel, 2019’s winner for the largest Asian tour operator. Vietravel Airlines has also begun charter flights throughout Vietnam. It is not known whether it will begin international operations or not. Although this positive news is quite inspirational, the Vietnamese government has stopped issuing 90-day visas for most foreigners (mainly EU countries and the UK), and has instead reduced this time to 30 days. Therefore it might be difficult to really discover Vietnam in its entirety. Vietravel Airlines operates a fleet of 3 Airbus A321-200s and is awaiting the delivery of 1 A321LR (the long-range version of the A321neo). 27th of January 2021.
Aeronews24 