Vietjet Air is continuing its rapid expansion in both the Australian and Indian markets by introducing two new routes from Ho Chi Minh City, both of which are unserved at present.

Commencing on Nov. 21, the LCC will initiate flights between Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN) and Perth Airport (PER). Operating twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the route establishes the first nonstop air connection between Vietnam and a city in Western Australia.

The addition of Perth will further bolster Vietjet's Australian network, which began with the airline’s inaugural route to the country in April 2023. Presently, Vietjet operates three flights per week each to Sydney and Melbourne from SGN, alongside two roundtrip flights to Brisbane.

Looking ahead, Vietjet has ambitious plans to grow its Australian network from December. The carrier will increase Sydney and Melbourne services to daily frequencies, while Brisbane will operate 3X-weekly. The changes will increase Vietjet’s network between Vietnam and Australia to 38 weekly flights.

Alongside the Perth route, the airline has also announced the launch of service between SGN and Tiruchirappalli, a city in India's southern Tamil Nadu state. Operations will begin on Nov. 2 with three return flights per week.

Data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows that the route will be the sole connection from Tiruchirappalli to Vietnam and will increase Vietjet’s Indian network to five destinations.

The airline first launched flights to the country in December 2019, and now connects SGN and Hanoi with Ahmedabad, New Delhi and Mumbai, as well as linking SGN with the Indian port city of Cochin. In total, it offers some 14,500 two-way weekly Vietnam-India seats across 54 flights.

Vietjet's expansion in India’s market has helped to increase the total number of passengers traveling between Vietnam and India to over 300,000 in the first six months of 2023, nearly five times higher than 70,000 passengers recorded in the same period last year. 

In the first six months of 2023, the carrier reported revenues of about $1.25 billion, up by 87% year-on-year. Consolidated after-tax profit was recorded at $16.3 million. The airline says the average seat utilization rate was more 85%.