VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi Noi Bai International) Deputy Director (Commercial, Strategy, and Planning), Jay L Lingeswara, says the Vietnamese LCC is still considering entering the longhaul budget market although plans to do so are currently on the back burner.

Talk of acquiring a small fleet of widebody jets capable of non-stop service to Europe and North America first surfaced in early 2014 when Managing Director Luu Duc Khanh said widebody offerings from each of Airbus and Boeing were both being looked at. Plans at the time had suggested a possible 2017 launch for flights to Australia, Russia, Western Europe and North America.

However, speaking to Routes Online, Lingeswara said that while longhaul is still a target market, VietJetAir needs to find the right partners to work with, be they airlines or an alliance, in order for the project to work. Until such time, the LCC will continue to focus on growing its regional network with sectors of between four and six hours flying time.

VietJetAir operates a fleet of twenty-seven A320-200s and ten A321-200s on flights to thirty-one destinations in Vietnam as well as South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Myanmar, and Malaysia.