VietJet is betting big on the Indian market as it launches more direct flights and explores options to increase connectivity between India and Vietnam.

The airline entered the Indian market in 2019 and made headlines with promotional fares starting Rs 9 (excluding VAT, airport fees and other surcharges) for flights from Delhi to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

On asked whether such promotional fares make economic sense for the airline, VietJet said while these fares are offered on an ad-hoc basis, it is focussing more on "digital" and hence, these digital savings help it to provide more affordable fares to the passenger.

"Promotional fares more on an ad-hoc basis. So that's more on ad-hoc campaigns. We pass back the offerings or savings to end user because we focus more on digital. So digital savings help us to pass back savings to end-user by offering more affordable pricing," Jay Lingeswara, Director, Commercial at VietJet told CNBC-TV18.

The airline has announced its plans to directly connect Mumbai to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with three weekly flights and four weekly flights from May 15, 2020, and May 16, 2020, respectively. It will also introduce a new destination in Vietnam in the form of Da Nang from May 14 via five weekly direct flights from Delhi.

"With all three of the new routes launching operations in May 2020, Vietjet will become the operator with the most direct routes between the two countries, offering five direct routes from and to India," VietJet said.

While IndiGo and VietJet are the only two airlines that offer direct connectivity between India and Vietnam, VietJet provided direct connectivity from Delhi and IndiGo from Kolkata.

The airline is considering to increase the frequency of its flights between India and Vietnam and continues to explore new destinations in India as it believes that there is a substantial potential for tourism and trade between the two countries.

"New flights show great prospect for India market..as an airline, we promote India to Vietnam and vice versa," Lingeswara added.

First Published:Feb 12, 2020 8:44 PM IST