The flagship carrier joins VietJet in offering direct flights from the southern metropolis to the Indonesian beach hotspot.
The inaugural flight on the route took off from Saigon at 11:19am and landed at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali at 3:39pm. Return flights will leave Baili at 4:50pm and arrive in Vietnam at 7:45pm.
From now on, the route will operate each week on at similar time slots on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday and use Airbus A321 aircraft that can accommodate more than 250 passengers.
The route reflects increased tourism between Vietnam and Indonesia, and foreign arrivals in Saigon in general. More than 100,000 Indonesian tourists visited Vietnam in 2018, representing an 8.4% increase over the prior year, while visitors have grown by 20% so far this year. In contrast, 26.9% more Vietnamese tourists per year visited Bali between 2015 and 2018.
Budget Vietnamese airline VietJet began direct service between Bali and Saigon in May. VietJet expects to add direct routes between Saigon and Jakarta by the end of the year, while Vietnam Airlines has flown on this route since 2012.
