Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet Air opened its Hanoi – Bangkokroute starting on June 1 in an effort to gain a bigger share in thegrowing Thai market.

It operates seven two-way weeklyflights, charging 450,000 VND (21 USD) per customer for a one-way flighton the newly opened route.

The flight from Hanoi startsat 10:50am and arrives in Bangkok at 12:40pm. The return flight fromBangkok starts at 1:35 pm at Suvarnabhumi Airport and arrives atNoi Bai Airport at 3:25pm.

Tuoitrenews quotedDesmond Lin, Business Development Manager of VietJetAir as saying thatthe demand for travel between Vietnam and Thailand is increasingconsiderably nowadays, especially during the summer, while trade is alsogrowing.

“This new route will help meet that demand and encourage further growth,” he added.

VietJetAir is targeting the growing Thai market with a plan to establish ThaiVietJet Air, a 51-49 joint venture between Thailand’s Kan Airairline and VietJet Air.

The negotiation between the twoparties on the establishment took place last week, but no moreinformation has been announced lately, according to The Bangkok Post.

Thai VietJet Air is expected to operate its first flight in the next six months using two Airbus A320, it said.

VietJet Air is the second airline in ASEAN after Lion Air of Indonesia to target the potential budget airlines in Thailand.

TheVietnamese low-cost airline, which started to fly in late 2011 andmainly operates domestically, has six Airbus A320 and is ordering 20more units.

Besides Thailand, VietJet Air is planning toopen new flights to other regional destinations including Singapore,Inchon of the Republic of Korea, Narita in Tokyo, Japan and Taipei ofChinese Taiwan.-VNA