Vietjet to launch flights to new Western Sydney Airport

The Western Sydney International Airport (Nancy-Bird Walton Airport/WSI) has announced that Vietnamese budget carrier Vietjet will launch its first flights to the new Sydney-area airport in January next year (2027).

From January 9, Vietjet will operate two weekly flights (Tuesday and Saturday) between Ho Chi Minh City and WSI before increasing it to thrice-weekly in March. The outbound flight VJ087 will depart Tan Son Nhat Airport at 2125H and will arrive at WSI at 1000H the following morning. The first return flight will depart WSI on January 10 as VJ088 at 1205H. It will then arrive back at Tan Son Nhat Airport at 1640H.

Airbus A330 aircraft with 377 seats will be used on the flights, which will take over 8 hours each way.

With the addition of the Ho Chi Minh-Western Sydney route, Vietjet will offer around 23 weekly flights from Ho Chi Minh City to five destinations in Australia. The airline currently operates x5 weekly flights each from Ho Chi Minh to Sydney (Kingsford Smith), Brisbane, and Melbourne, and x4 weekly flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Perth.

Vietjet will be the fifth airline to commit to launch flights to WSI, and the second from Southeast Asia after Singapore Airlines. Other airlines that have committed to operate regulary scheduled passenger flights at WSI after its opening include Qantas, Jetstar, Singapore Airlines, and Air New Zealand.

"Becoming one of the first airlines to operate at this new airport reinforces Vietjet’s strategy of pioneering the expansion of its international network while strengthening connectivity between Vietnam and Australia," said Vietjet’s CEO Nguyen Thanh Son. "We believe the new route will further boost tourism, trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges between our two countries, creating more jobs and contributing to local economic growth. It will also provide passengers with more convenient, high-quality, and affordable travel options." 

The WSI added that Vietjet's Thailand-based subsidiary Vietjet Thailand plans to launch a four-times weekly service between Bangkok and WSI. The launch date and flight schedule will be announced later. 

Cargo operations at WSI started on July 27. Qantas’s budget subsidiary Jetstar is expected to operate the first regularly scheduled passenger flights to/from WSI on October 25.