South Korean authorities announced Monday that the country had 161 more new cases of corona virus, bringing the total number of domestic cases to 763. Most cases concentrated in Daegu, the fourth largest city in the country and Gyeongsang Province. North nearby.
With the epidemic of Daegu, Vietjet Air plans to suspend the operation of the route linking this city with Da Nang from February 25 to March 28. Apart from Vietjet Air, there are no other Vietnamese airlines operating this route. Before the outbreak, the airline was operating the flight route with a frequency of 7 flights / week / afternoon, according to data from the Aviation Department.
Although no decision has been made to suspend the Korean flight license from aviation authorities, flights between the two countries are decreasing because of the plagued demand caused by the Covid-19 epidemic.
Also from Daegu, Korea's Tway Air is operating 3 flight routes to and from Da Nang, Cam Ranh and Hanoi with a total frequency of 21 flights / week / afternoon (7 flights / week / afternoon). However, due to the sharp decrease in flight demand, the airline canceled many flights from Daegu to Hanoi and Da Nang during the period 18 / 2-28 / 3; canceled flights between Daegu and Nha Trang from February 23 to March 28.
Statistics from the Vietnamese aviation authorities show that one week before the decision to cut routes (February 16 to February 22), Vietjet Air transported 1,053 passengers between Da Nang to Daegu and vice versa (587 passengers from Da Nang to Daegu and 466 guests from Daegu to Da Nang). During the same period, Tway Air transported 894 guests from Hanoi, Da Nang, Nha Trang to Daegu and vice versa.
In addition to the flight with Daegu, Vietnamese airlines also began to reduce the frequency of operation and cancel 50% of flights between Vietnam and South Korea from February 17 to March 28. In particular, Bamboo Airways said it will suspend the operation of two flights from Da Nang - Incheon and Nha Trang - Incheon from February 26. This is the first Vietnamese airline to stop all routes to South Korea.
South Korea is the second largest market for tourist arrivals to Vietnam after China. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in the first 9 months of 2019, 3.1 million Korean visitors visited Vietnam, accounting for about 24.4% of international visitors.
In the opposite direction, the Korea Tourism Administration said that in 2019, about 550,000 Vietnamese visitors visited the country.
According to the statistics of the Aviation Administration, in 2019, the total transport on the routes between Vietnam - South Korea was more than 9.67 million passengers, an increase of 25% compared to 2018 with an average seat utilization ratio of 82 , 5%. Transportation market share of Vietnamese airlines reached 32.6% with an average seat utilization ratio of 81.6%.
