Vietnam Airlines is set to enhance the passenger experience on its internal network by introducing premium economy class on all of its domestic flights. While the Hanoi-headquartered Vietnamese flag carrier and SkyTeam member has already been offering such tickets on certain domestic services for almost six years, January 14th will see this extended to the entirety of its internal flight network.
Coming soon
As recently announced by the airline on its LinkedIn page, Vietnam Airlines
will launch its expanded domestic premium economy next Tuesday, with the move set to, as the carrier puts it, “provide passengers with a more comfortable experience.” These fares come with all the bells and whistles of a typical premium economy product, including priority check-in and boarding as well as more spacious seating.
Photo: Vietnam Airlines
Furthermore, passengers in this class of travel will be entitled to a better and more diverse offering when it comes to onboard catering, as well as greater ticket flexibility than those traveling in economy class. These fares are also well suited to those who like to make the most of their luggage allowance, as they entitle guests to the same capacity in this regard as those traveling in business class.
According to Vietnam Airlines’ website, the carrier has two tariffs, namely Premium Economy Classic and Premium Economy Flex. As the name suggests, the latter has better flexibility, but both have the same baggage allowance, namely one 32 kg checked bag and 18 kg of hand luggage. It’s Vietnam notes that regional flights operated by ATR
72s have reduced allowances of 23 kg and 7 kg respectively.
Expanding the existing offering
While next week’s expansion will see premium economy tickets offered on all of Vietnam Airlines’ domestic flights, the carrier is no stranger to the concept of offering this class of travel on its internal route network. Indeed, the airline began offering premium economy tickets on the route between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in July 2019, albeit only on flights operated by its Airbus
A350s and Boeing 787s.
Photo: Vietnam Airlines
At the time of their launch, these tickets cost passengers VND 500,000 ($20) more than the Economy Flex tariff, offering a reasonable compromise between comfort and price. According to present fleet data made available by aeroLOPA, Vietnam Airlines’ premium-economy-equipped Airbus A350-900s have 36 of these seats in a 2-4-2 layout, while the Boeing
787-9s have 35 in a 2-3-2 configuration.
Vietnam Airlines noted at the time that, for all intents and purposes, its premium economy fares essentially offer passengers the business class experience in every respect except for the seat. Indeed, the other perks of this class of travel not yet discussed include “Lotus Lounge access, (…) welcome drinks, hot towels, hot meals, a wider selection of drinks and an upgraded entertainment system.”
A considerable domestic market
Vietnam is one of the world’s most populous countries, with more than 100 million residents calling the nation their home. With this in mind, it is unsurprising to see that it has a large and diverse network when it comes to domestic aviation. This extends far beyond Vietnam Airlines’ main hubs at Nội Bài International Airport (HAN) in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat International (SGN) in Ho Chi Minh City.
Photo: Vietnam Airlines
According to current scheduling data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, there are 19,013 domestic flights scheduled to operate within Vietnam this month. Collectively speaking, these services will offer grand totals of 3,723,916 seats and 1,884,364,835 available seat miles (ASMs). Despite these huge figures, they are split between just four carriers: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Bamboo, and Vietravel.
As the national flag carrier, it comes as little surprise to see that Vietnam Airlines offers more than half of the capacity in terms of scheduled flights, with 10,007 set to run this month. These services will offer 1,897,372 seats and 920,333,215 ASMs, also representing around half of the overall capacity in these metrics. Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi is the busiest corridor with 970 flights, and other top routes include:
- Ho Chi Minh City – Da Nang (DAD) with 576 flights.
- Hanoi – Da Nang with 333 flights.