Vietnam-based airlines are emerging as dark horses, overtaking U.S. and Chinese carriers as they increase flights between major cities in Vietnam and South Korea while launching an air ticket price war.
Vietnam’s largest private carrier Vietjet Air and national carrier Vietnam Airlines ranked first and second among foreign carriers flying into South Korea in terms of cumulative passengers from January to November this year, according to the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Aviation Statistics System on Dec. 18. Among foreign airlines, the two’s share stood at 18 percent in terms of the number of passengers.
During the same period, approximately 7.82 million passengers traveled to and from Vietnam via airports in South Korea. Among them, an estimated 3.45 million, or 44 percent, traveled on Vietjet and Vietnam Airlines. This is a sharp increase in just two years, considering that the annual share of Vietnamese airlines was around 31 percent in 2019.
This is a change from the pre-pandemic period when Chinese carriers dominated the top spots. Two years ago, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines held the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively, in terms of passengers. However, due to the pandemic, coupled with a ban on Chinese group travel to South Korea, their market share plummeted in two years. This year, Chinese carriers recovered to the third and fourth spots as Chinese tourists’ demand for travel to South Korea has increased, but they remain far behind Vietnamese airlines.
Vietjet has been focusing on expanding its routes in East Asia including South Korea since 2014. The airline has the largest number of direct routes between South Korea and Vietnam with a total of 15. It currently runs eight routes from Seoul to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Dalat and Can Tho, and six routes from Busan to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Dalat and Phu Quoc. The airline also operates a route from Daegu to Da Nang.
Amid growing demand for short-haul travel, Vietnamese airlines have been able to establish themselves in the South Korean market in a short period of time as they have waged an aggressive price war through cost-saving and efficient operations.
Vietnamese airlines have expanded their presences in the South Korean air travel market thanks to the fact that Vietnamese are the second-largest foreign resident group in Korea after Chinese. According to the results of the 2023 Immigrant Stay and Employment Survey released by Statistics Korea in December, Vietnam had the second most foreign workers in South Korea with 11.3 percent, followed by Korean Chinese (35.3 percent) as of May this year. Vietnamese also held the largest share (38.3 percent) among foreigners staying in South Korea as international students.
Vietnam is one of the most popular winter travel destinations among South Koreans after Japan. South Korea’s major airlines and low-cost carriers (LCCs) are actively expanding their routes to Vietnam from South Korea.