Vietnam’s New Policy Signals Open a Wider Flight Path for India

By James Nguyen

Vietnam’s recently concluded Communist Party Congress has delivered a message markets understand well: stability in leadership, continuity in economic policy, and a renewed push for integration with high-growth partners across Asia. Promoting the development of a modern, internationally integrated socialist-oriented market economy to meet the requirements of developing new productive forces; ensuring that the state-owned economy truly plays a leading role, while the private economy is the most important driving force of the economy; establishing a new growth model, restructuring the economy, promoting industrialization and modernization, with science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as the main driving forces. Enhancing the development of new productive forces and production methods, focusing on the development of the digital economy, green economy, circular economy, and building a digital, environmentally friendly society.

Focusing on implementing breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation to create a foundation for the development of new, modern productive forces, prioritizing the development of strategic industries and technologies, with a focus on semiconductor chips and artificial intelligence; promoting the training and utilization of high-quality human resources.

For India, these signals more than diplomatic reassurance. It opens up a clear commercial opportunity — particularly in aviation, with a significant role of Vietjet.

As Vietnam charts its next phase of growth, air connectivity is emerging as both a strategic tool and an economic multiplier. And among all its regional partners, India stands out as a market whose potential remains significantly underexploited.

Policy Continuity Meets Business Opportunity
The Congress outcome reinforces Vietnam’s long-standing emphasis on pragmatic governance, private-sector participation, and infrastructure-led development. For capital-intensive industries like aviation, this policy predictability matters. Airlines do not invest in new routes, fleets, or training ecosystems unless regulatory intent is stable and long term.

Vietnam’s leadership has made it clear that services, tourism, and connectivity will play a larger role in sustaining growth as manufacturing matures. Aviation therefore moves from being a support industry to a strategic one — enabling trade, tourism inflows, and people-to-people exchanges at scale.

Why India Is Central to Vietnam’s Aviation Play
India’s relevance in this equation is structural, not incidental. With one of the world’s fastest-growing outbound travel markets, a young demographic profile, and rising business engagement with Southeast Asia, India offers demand depth that few markets can match.

Direct flights over the past decade have already changed travel patterns. Indian tourist arrivals to Vietnam have risen sharply, driven by improved access and competitive fares. Yet connectivity remains thin relative to potential. Many Indian metros lack direct links, while Vietnamese destinations beyond Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City remain largely off the Indian aviation map.

For Indian travellers and businesses, Vietnam offers a compelling mix: competitive costs, cultural affinity, and increasing strategic alignment. For Vietnam, India provides diversification away from traditional Northeast Asian markets and a hedge against regional volatility.

Vietjet and the Economics of Connectivity
Much of the current momentum in Vietnam–India aviation has been driven by Vietjet, Vietnam’s largest private airline. Its low-cost model fits neatly with India’s price-sensitive outbound market, while its aggressive network strategy has helped convert latent demand into actual traffic.

Vietjet’s role is commercially significant. By opening new routes and stimulating first-time travel, the airline is not just competing for market share — it is expanding the market itself. This aligns with Vietnam’s broader economic objectives and complements India’s growing engagement with ASEAN economies.

From a business standpoint, the logic is straightforward: medium-haul routes with high volume potential, strong tourism flows, and increasing business travel offer attractive long-term returns if supported by policy and infrastructure.

What Comes Next
The next phase of Vietnam–India aviation growth will depend on execution. Liberalisation of bilateral air service agreements, faster airport capacity expansion — including the upcoming Long Thanh International Airport — and closer coordination between tourism and aviation authorities will be critical.

The Party Congress has provided the policy signal. Airlines and investors will now look for regulatory follow-through.

Bottom Line
For India, Vietnam’s post-Congress direction reinforces its emergence as a serious economic and connectivity partner in Southeast Asia. Aviation sits at the centre of that relationship. As airlines like Vietjet expand routes and capacity, the Vietnam–India air corridor is evolving from a niche market into a commercially viable, strategically relevant aviation axis.

The skies between New Delhi and Hanoi — and beyond — are getting busier. For businesses on both sides, that is a welcome sign.