Vietnamese airlines drive down regional airfares, making Thailand trips more affordable for summer

Fares on routes from Vietnam to Thailand and neighbouring destinations have plummeted this summer due to increased capacity and heightened competition, promising better-value travel options for holidaymakers.

Flights from Vietnam to Thailand are becoming noticeably cheaper for holidaymakers, with fares on busy routes such as Ho Chi Minh City-Bangkok now starting at about VND1.9 million, roughly half last year’s level, according to reporting by VnExpress. For travellers heading to Thailand, the immediate takeaway is simple: summer journeys that were once expensive are now far more affordable, especially if you fly with a Vietnamese carrier rather than one of the foreign airlines still charging much higher prices.

The price drop reflects a sharp increase in seat capacity, which has pushed competition higher across the region. VnExpress reported that a one-way ticket from Ho Chi Minh City to Singapore fell from VND3.2 million to just over VND1.6 million, while fares on the Ho Chi Minh City-Jakarta route have also eased. The same pattern is feeding into fares from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Europe and north-east Asia, suggesting the wider network is benefiting from the extra supply.

Industry data cited by VnExpress from British aviation analytics group OAG shows Vietnam is set to have 7.3 million seats available in August, up 10% from a year earlier and second only to Indonesia in south-east Asia. Vietnam Airlines is expected to provide 2.8 million of those seats, while Vietjet Air accounts for 2.2 million. Vietjet has also increased its Ho Chi Minh City-Kuala Lumpur service to seven flights a week for the peak season and plans new routes to Colombo, Almaty and Prague, which should keep pressure on fares across the region.

For travellers, that means it may now be worth checking Vietnamese airlines first when comparing Thailand trips, particularly if flexibility matters and you are booking during peak holiday periods. Hong Thanh, who owns a ticket agency in Ho Chi Minh City, told VnExpress that softer demand for overseas travel has also helped restrain prices, while lower fuel costs are adding further relief after the government cut several fuel-related taxes and fees from July 1 until September 30. In practical terms, anyone planning a Thailand break could find better-value fares than last summer, although prices still vary sharply between airlines and dates.