Flights from Hanoi to Con Dao
Recently, Bamboo Airways announced the early termination of the contract to lease three Embraer E190 aircraft – the type of aircraft used to operate flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao, Hue and from Hanoi to Dong Hoi.
Bamboo Airways will stop flying from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao starting in April.
After returning these jet engines, the airline will cease operations on all or part of the routes from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao, Hue and from Hanoi to Dong Hoi. Since September 2020, Bamboo Airways has been the first airline to operate the direct route from Hanoi to Con Dao with the Embraer E190 aircraft.
It is known that this is not the first airline to suspend the Hanoi – Con Dao route.
Previously, in 2012, the straight route from Hanoi to Con Dao was first operated by Air Mekong with the Bombardier CRJ 900 jet engine. However, just after one year, Air Mekong had to stop this route.
In September 2020, Bamboo Airways officially reopened the Hanoi – Con Dao route with the Embraer E190 aircraft. After 8 years, passengers can once again fly directly to Con Dao in just over 2 hours. It is important to note that the competition from new competitors forced Vietnam Airlines Group to reduce the prices of connecting flights, from about 5-7 million VND (including taxes and fees) to about 2.7-3 million VND.
Therefore, the closure of the Hanoi – Con Dao route by Bamboo Airways means that from April 2024, the Hanoi – Con Dao route will once again be the exclusive playground for Vietnam Airlines.
Instead of flying directly, passengers have to connect from Can Tho or Tan Son Nhat; another option is to take a boat from Ho Chi Minh City. Many passengers are worried that ticket prices will be expensive again, especially in the context of domestic airfares tending to increase from 2023 until now.
The Fever of Hanoi – Con Dao Flights
According to Vietnamnet, in the next month until the end of operation, Bamboo Airways’ Hanoi – Con Dao flights will quickly sell out. Weekend flights are fully booked.
From now until mid-March, there are only flights on March 6, March 11, and March 17, and then there are more available slots. Ticket prices are always high, averaging more than 4 million VND per economy class ticket and up to 10 million VND per business class ticket.
Many people are booking tickets to Con Dao from Hanoi before this direct route closes and it is uncertain when it will resume.
Anh Quan (Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi) shared on Tien Phong: “My family plans to travel to Con Dao in April. Because there has always been a direct route, I thought it would be easy to book tickets, but I will book in mid-March. However, when I received information that Bamboo Airways would stop operating flights from Hanoi, my family had to find connecting flights at higher costs, even reducing the number of people traveling to save costs and make it easier to buy tickets”.
A survey on February 26 showed that tourists could not book direct flights to Con Dao from Hanoi because all tickets were sold out. On February 29, there was only one connecting flight from Hanoi – Can Tho – Con Dao available, with a price of up to 5.7 million VND.
Ms. Ngan – working at a travel agency in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi said that the number and frequency of direct flights from Hanoi to Con Dao are always fixed because there is only one airline operating the route. Therefore, if customers have the need, they should book about 2 weeks in advance to get an affordable price. In case of urgent ticket purchase, the round-trip ticket price for the Hanoi – Con Dao route can reach up to 14 million VND.
Since they always prepare tours one month in advance, the director of a travel company said that there are still tickets from Hanoi to Con Dao for the unit, with prices ranging from more than 3 million VND for a one-way ticket and about 7 million VND for a round-trip ticket. However, the suspension of direct flights will require the business activities of the unit to change and adapt to the context.
“Our enterprise has committed to the number of hotel rooms with some hotels in Con Dao this year, but if there are no direct flights, the number of rooms may decrease and we may have to negotiate with the accommodation establishments,” said the representative of the travel company.
According to estimates, the demand for flights to Con Dao in March will increase significantly because many tourists intend to travel in April will reschedule their trips to get direct flights. Connecting flights can take over 7 hours of travel time from Hanoi. This also means that people have to stay on the island longer, incurring additional costs for meals and accommodation.
