Vietjet starts service from Hanoi to Fukuoka and Nagoya

Vietnamese low-cost carrier Vietjet has launched two new routes linking Hanoi with the Japanese cities of Nagoya and Fukuoka, anticipating demand from technical interns from Vietnam and tourists from Japan. The airline is operating three direct flights a week between Hanoi and Fukuoka Airport, and four between Hanoi and Chubu Airport outside Nagoya, taking about five hours each way. The routes had been announced back in January 2020, but the emergence of the coronavirus shortly thereafter forced Vietjet to rework its plans. The carrier will restart flights between Danang and Haneda Airport near Tokyo in September, gradually returning service on the route to pre-pandemic levels. Founded in 2007, Vietjet has risen to become one of Southeast Asia's largest budget airlines and continues to expand service to destinations across Asia. It and JAL signed a memorandum of understanding for commercial cooperation in 2017 and began code-sharing flights the following year. Vietnam reopened its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in two years this past March. With the Southeast Asian nation's COVID-related entry restrictions now lifted, flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is resuming suspended routes.<br/>