Vietnam to implement phased return of international flights by January 2022

The Ministry of Transport of Vietnam plans to ease air travel restrictions, reopen its international borders and gradually resume international flights by January 2022. 

Following the Ministry of Transport’s latest update regarding travel restrictions, the government of Vietnam has started to implement a four-phase plan to open international borders. 

The government announced the first phase of requirement facilitation at the beginning of November 2021. This gives fully vaccinated foreign travelers the green light to visit several specific local destinations and includes flights to Phu Quoc, Da Nang, Hoi An, and Nha Trang.

According to a travel update published by a local media outlet on November 8, 2021, Vietnam expects to ease air travel rules further with its second phase, due to begin in January 2022. 

The Ministry of Transport expects to gradually expand the list of destinations for scheduled domestic and international passenger flights, and reopen borders for commercial flights to 15 countries with a frequency of four operations per week. The list should include international flights to Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Australia, Russia and some European destinations, such as France and Germany. 

The frequency of flights should be further increased to seven weekly flights, with plans to fully reopen international air connectivity in June or July 2022.

In March 2020, Vietnam suspended the entry of all foreign travelers with the exception of diplomats, officials, experts, and skilled workers. 

Subject to morbidity rates, the country resumed domestic operations to specific local destinations on October 1, 2021.