Traveling to the Indonesian capital from Saigon will be cheaper in the near future.
During a press conference on Tuesday, representatives from budget carrier VietJet announced that it will launch a nonstop route from Ho Chi Minh City to Jakarta, reports Tuoi Tre.
The event was held in Jakarta with high-ranking Vietnamese and Indonesian officials in attendance. This was part of the official visit to the neighboring country by Vietnam’s Party Chief, Nguyen Phu Trong.
Visitors will have to wait until the end of this year, however, as flights on this route will only start from December 20. The daily flights will take around three hours, departing from Saigon at 8:40pm and arriving in Jakarta at 11:40pm local time. Return flights will leave at 1:40am Jakarta time and land at 4:40am.
“Vietjet’s new route from Ho Chi Minh City to Jakarta will boost ties between these two economic, cultural and financial hubs, thus helping to boost regional trading and integration,” Dinh Viet Phuong, vice president of VietJet, said at the meeting, reports VietnamNet.
Indonesian journalists, however, were worried that VietJet’s infamous skimpy promotional campaigns might be inappropriate in the religious country. In response to these concerns, Jay Lingeswara, the carrier’s deputy director for commercial affairs, assured local press that the company will only feature bikini-clad flight attendants on “specific occasions,” according to the Jakarta Post.
“We strongly believe and are committed to offering the best and suitable services to the Indonesian market,” he said at the conference.
Phuong, meanwhile, elaborated that the airline will take additional steps to ensure that its service is customized to local culture, such as providing halal food for Muslim travelers.
[Photo via Gia Dinh Vietnam]
