Vietnam-India market's rapid growth. VietJet first with nonstops

VietJet Air is poised to become the first airline to operate scheduled nonstop flights connecting Vietnam and India. The Vietnamese LCC plans to operate four weekly services initially, from Ho Chi Minh to Delhi, but over the next several years could add several routes to India.

The Vietnam-India market is relatively small but has been growing rapidly. From a small base, traffic has nearly tripled over the past five years and was up 30% in 2017, driven by a 30% increase in Indian visitor numbers to Vietnam.

Vietnam and India are among the 10 most populated countries in Asia and are only four to six hours apart by air. Vietnam is also an increasingly popular tourist destination and India is one of the fastest growing outbound markets. While there is now sufficient demand to support direct services, VietJet will have to overcome stiff competition from sixth freedom competitors, which have the advantage of offering multiple Vietnam-India city pairs.