VietJet Air continues domestic expansion in Vietnam as its IPO approaches

VietJet Air is pursuing further domestic expansion as demand for travel within Vietnam continues to grow rapidly. VietJet secured a 40% share of Vietnam's domestic market in Jul-2015 and should soon be able to capture a 50% share.

VietJet is launching services on 1-Oct-2015 to Pleiku, which will become its sixteenth domestic destination, and is now looking at using regional jets to open up new secondary domestic destinations which cannot be accessed by its fast-growing fleet of A320 family aircraft. VietJet is keen to test out a new regional strategy by wet-leasing an Embraer E195, which would be used to launch services by the end of 2015 to the Vietnamese resort island of Con Dao.

International expansion has been relatively modest and is much more risky than domestic expansion. VietJet is launching services in Oct-2015 to Yangon, its fifth scheduled international destination, but is wisely focusing most international expansion on charters, particularly to China. VietJet also has been very slow at expanding its affiliate in Thailand, where competition is more intense and market conditions are less favourable.