Vietjet to start direct Darwin flights to Ho Chi Minh City in 2019

AN Asian airline will commence direct flights to Darwin next year in a boost for the Top End’s connectivity with Asia

Vietjet looks set to commence direct flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Darwin next year

VIETNAMESE airline Vietjet will fly direct to Darwin from Ho Chi Minh City from next year, one of the country’s deputy prime ministers has said.

Speaking through a translator in Hanoi ahead of the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between the Chamber of Commerce NT and its Vietnamese equivalent, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said budget carrier Vietjet expected to start the new link in 2019.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner will meet with Vietjet officials in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.

While the deal is yet to be set in stone, Mr Gunner said Pham Binh Minh’s enthusiasm was promising.

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“The deputy prime minister indicating he wanted to see direct flights between Darwin and Ho Chi Minh in 2019 is sensational. We obviously need to get that from Vietjet, and there are a lot of hurdles to go through before companies make that decision.

“But to have the support of the Vietnamese Government will be crucial to this happening.”

The expected flight time for the service is 4.5 hours.

Mr Gunner said that ease of travel would be a boon to the Territory for both business and tourism.

The NT’s burgeoning international education industry would also benefit.

“If there was a direct flight it would be so easy to get home to see their parents, or for their parents to come out and visit. It would give us a significant competitive advantage over Sydney or Melbourne if it’s a 4.5 hour flight.”

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Chamber of Commerce representatives have met with Vietjet three times in the past 18 months to pitch the Territory as a new route.

The company’s attitude had changed from ambivalence to excitement in that time, chamber deputy chief executive Brian O’Gallagher said.

“They told us Darwin fit in with their preferred point-to-point model,” he said.

Darwin’s status as a 24-hour airport gave it an advantage in winning extra routes over congested east coast airports, Mr O’Gallagher said.

As well as making it easier to do business in Vietnam, additional direct links to Asia would be a selling point for Territory businesses looking to attract and retain staff from southern states, he said.