HANOI, 15 January 2019: Vietnamese newest airline Bamboo Airways, code name QH, will launch its first services in the country to coincide with the ASEAN Tourism Forum, which is being held in Halong Bay this week.
Around 500 international buyers will meet with travel content suppliers from ASEAN’s 10-member countries at the three-day travel show that opens this Wednesday.
On the same day Bamboo Airways will launch eight routes with 13 daily roundtrip flights from Hanoi.
Originally it was supposed to start flying domestic routes in mid-December, but encountered technical hitches.
Reservations for domestic services opened at the weekend, while the airline’s sales team is scheduled to make presentations to overseas travel buyers attending ATF’s TRAVEX trade show.
According to Airlineroute’s timetable information flight details are:
Hanoi – Buon Ma Thuot daily;
Hanoi – Cam Ranh/Nha Trang daily;
Hanoi – Danang three daily;
Hanoi – Dong Hoi daily:
Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City four daily;
Hanoi – Phu Quoc daily;
Hanoi – Quy Nhon daily;
Ho Chi Minh City – Quy Nhon daily.
The first flight according to local news reports will depart Hanoi for the resort town of Quy Nhon where the airline’s parent company operates a hotel.
Vietnam’s fifth airline uses a mix of A320s and A321s, considered essential workhorses for low-cost airlines in highly competitive markets across Southeast Asia.
In earlier reports this year, the airline’s owner said the first priority was to connect main cities to domestic destinations not served by competitors
The first international flights will likely serve South Korea and Japan in the second, or third quarter of 2019. Korea and Japan are the second and third largest supply markets for tourism to Vietnam.
According to earlier reports the airline was given the green light to operate 10 aircraft on both domestic and international routes, but long-term the business plan outlines 100 routes connecting domestic points and serving international routes linked to tourism.
Established in 2017 with a charter capital of USD30.8 million, Bamboo Airways will make Quy Nhon’s Phu Cat Airport its home base.
According to earlier news reports the airline plans to have a fleet of 30 planes and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus for 24 A321s and has an order on the books for 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, worth USD 8.6 billion at list prices, scheduled for delivery from April 2020.
