Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam’s aviation industry isforecast to have a busy year ahead as China reopens its borders which had beenshut down since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Domestic airlines are re-operating regular routes to/from China and planning toincrease the frequency and open new routes.

A representative from Vietnam Airlines said that the national carrier wasgetting ready to re-operate regular routes between Vietnam and China. Besidesresuming flight routes to/from China, it was also developing plans to increasethe frequency and launch new ones depending on the market demand and visa andentry policies.

The air travel market will recover as China moves to ease its tight COVIDregimes.

According to Vietnam Airlines, the number of bookings has been increasing sincethe reoperation of flight routes on December 9.

Airlines expect to serve visitors, international workers, and official guestsin the next two months. Vietnam Airlines said that Chinese tourists areexpected to come from March, which would help increase travelling to 50% in2019.

However, an obstacle was that the two countries had not yet made specificannouncements on the issuance of tourist visas, the airline said, adding thatresolving this issue was what both sides were expecting to promote therestoration of flight routes to the same level as in 2019.

Flight No VN502, departing from HCM City for Guangzhou on December 9, wasthe first commercial regular flight between the two countries after nearlythree years of stopping because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By January 8, Vietnam Airlines restored all routes between Hanoi and Nanjing/Shanghai and between HCM City and Shenzhen/Hangzhou/Shanghai/Sichuan andGuangzhou with a frequency of six weekly flights.

With the resumption of regular flights to China, Vietnam Airlines restored mostof its international flight network, bringing the total number of internationalflights it operated to more than 600 a week, equivalent to 70% of the frequencyin the pre-pandemic period.

From March, the airline would increase frequency to Shanghai, Beijing andGuangzhou.

Vietjet resumed flight routes from HCM City to Shenzhen/ Hangzhou/ Shanghai/Sichuan/ Wuhan with six weekly flights. From January 23, the airline would putmore routes into operation, including from Cam Ranh to Changsha and Chengdu.

Pacific Airlines was operating routes from Hanoi to Hangzhou/ Nanning with afrequency of two weekly flights and planned to open routes to Guangzhou andFuzhou this summer.

Bamboo Airways was operating the route from Hanoi to Tianjin with one flightper week and planned to open six new routes to China.

Vietravel Airlines had no routes to China but planned to launch charter flightsfrom Cam Rank and Da Nang to Hangzhou.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said that airlines were allowedto resume regular flights with the frequency specified in the bilateralaviation agreements. Airlines were also allowed to resume flights as before theCOVID-19 pandemic, using the history of slots.

CAAV said that the Vietnam–China aviation market could hardly recover as beforethe pandemic in the short term.

CAAV stressed that the tourist visa policies of Vietnam and China were importantto promote air travelling because visitors between the two countries weremainly tourists. CAA said that airlines were expecting appropriate tourist visapolicies to attract Chinese tourists.

China was the largest tourism market of Vietnam in the pre-pandemic period,with 5.8 million visitors in 2019, accounting for nearly one-third ofinternational arrivals. In the 2015-19 period, the number of Chinese touriststo Vietnam rose by 3.3 times. China was also the leading outbound destinationof locals, with around 4.5 million Vietnamese travelling to China a year.

CAAV also urged airlines to meet with airports in advance to ensure thestability and smoothness for the restoration and operation of internationalflights, as some airports in China might not be able to provide the full rangeof required services./.