Fast-growing Vietnamese budget airline VietJet Aviation JSC said it has opened bookings for two direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to New Delhi that it will launch in December 2019.
Promotional tickets will be up for grabs for three days from Tuesday at its website and app, the airline said in a statement on Monday. The flight period is from December 6, 2019 to March 28, 2020, it said.
The privately-owned airline operates around 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to places such as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia.
Vietjet is known as the bikini airline. It has made headlines in the past with its controversial use of bikini-clad flight attendants and risque marketing campaigns. Last year, Vietnam's aviation authority fined the airline for a semi-naked and celebratory display by bikini-clad models aboard a special flight carrying home the country's under-23 football team from a competition in China.
VietJet has long been planning to launch flights to India but those ambitions have faced numerous delays.
The Ho Chi Minh City-New Delhi route will operate four return flights per week on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday starting from December 6, 2019. The flight departs from Ho Chi Minh City at 19:00 and arrives in New Delhi at 22:50. The return flight takes off from New Delhi at 23:50 and lands in Ho Chi Minh City at 06:10.
VietJet will operate the Hanoi-New Delhi route with three return flights a week on every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday starting from December 7, 2019. The flight departs from Hanoi at 19:10 and arrives in New Delhi at 22:50. The return flight takes off from New Delhi at 23:50 and lands in Hanoi at 05:20 (all in local times).
Bookings can also be made on Facebook, by using the company's hotline and offices as well as through travel agents. The direct flights from Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi to New Delhi will take around five hours per leg.