According to statistics from the Vietnam Aviation Administration, the percentage of people from the northern region visiting Con Dao (Ba Ria – Vung Tau) is as high as 90% because this place is famous for spiritual tourism. In particular, since the direct flights from Hanoi operated by Bamboo Airways, the number of tourists has increased significantly.
The demand for booking flights to Con Dao is expected to increase in March.
However, Bamboo Airways and its aircraft leasing partners have reached an agreement to terminate the lease contract for 3 Embraer E190 aircraft after the end of the winter season at the end of March. Therefore, the airline will stop operating all flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao.
This information is causing people who intend to visit Con Dao to be busy looking for plane tickets. Mr. Quan – living in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi – said: “In April this year, my family plans to travel to Con Dao. Because there has always been a direct flight, I thought it would be easy to book tickets, so I planned to book in mid-March. However, when there was information that Bamboo Airways stopped operating the Hanoi route, my family had to look for connecting flights with higher costs, and even reduce the number of participants to save costs and make it easier to buy tickets.”
A survey on February 26 shows that passengers cannot book direct flights to Con Dao because all tickets are sold out. By February 29, there is only one connecting flight from Hanoi to Can Tho to Con Dao available, with a price of up to 5.7 million VND.
Ms. Ngan – working at a flight ticket agency in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi – said the number and frequency of direct flights from Hanoi to Con Dao are always fixed because there is only one airline operating. Therefore, if customers have a need, they should book about 2 weeks in advance to get a reasonable price. In the case of urgent ticket purchases, the round-trip fare from Hanoi to Con Dao can go up to 14 million VND.
Because we always prepare tours 1 month in advance, the director of a travel company said that the company still has a number of tickets from Hanoi to Con Dao, with prices ranging from more than 3 million VND for a one-way trip and about 7 million VND for a round trip. However, stopping direct flights will require the company to adjust its business activities to fit the context.
“My company has signed a commitment on room volume with some hotels in Con Dao this year, but if there are no direct flights, the number of rooms may decrease and we have to negotiate again with the accommodation providers,” shared a representative of a travel company.
According to estimates, the demand for traveling to Con Dao in March will increase more because many tourists who intend to travel in April will reschedule to get direct flights. Connecting flights can take more than 7 hours of travel from Hanoi. This also makes people have to stay on the island longer, incur additional costs for food and accommodation.
Tourists enjoy checking in with the scene of a plane landing on Dam Trau beach, Con Dao.
In 2012, the first direct flight from Hanoi to Con Dao was operated by Air Mekong using Bombardier CRJ 900 jet aircraft. Because it had to land at Tan Son Nhat Airport to refuel, the flight time for this route was about 3 hours. But after only 1 year, this airline stopped operating.
In September 2020, Bamboo Airways officially reopened the Hanoi – Con Dao route using an Embraer E190 aircraft. At that time, passengers could fly directly to Con Dao in just over 2 hours, and the low price of direct tickets made the operators of connecting flights also have to adjust.
When Bamboo Airways closed the Hanoi – Con Dao route, the market only had Vasco operating a short route from Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao using ATR72 aircraft. Passengers from Hanoi who want to go to Con Dao have to fly to Ho Chi Minh City and then continue with a connecting flight.
