VIETJET: Western Sydney International gets next overseas airline. Saigon and Bangkok here we come!

Vietjet has become the fifth airline to commit to Western Sydney International Airport (WSI), with flights to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) beginning in January 2027. Next up, Vietjet is planning flights to its Thai sibling, Bangkok, later the same year.

Tickets for the new Vietnam service are now on sale, with the first WSI–Ho Chi Minh City flight scheduled for Sunday, 10 January 2027. Initially there will be two return flights each week, on Sundays and Wednesdays, increasing to three weekly from March.

It’s another useful international addition for Western Sydney, with Vietjet as merely a Vietnamese low-cost carrier dabbling in Australia.

Ho Chi Minh City twice weekly

Vietjet will use its Airbus A330s on the roughly eight-and-a-half-hour flight. Schedule below:

Flight	Route	Departure	Arrival	Frequency	Aircraft
VJ88	Western Sydney (WSI) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)	12:05	16:40	Wed & Sun	A330
VJ87	Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) to Western Sydney (WSI)	21:25	10:00 +1	Wed & Sun	A330

Services begin 10 January 2027, operating twice weekly before increasing to three flights a week from March 2027.

The aircraft carries up to 377 passengers. Vietjet’s current A330 configuration has just 12 angled-flat Business Class seats, with the remaining 365 passengers in Economy. Don’t expect the electronic distractions of a Qantas or Singapore Airlines widebody either: the Vietjet A330 currently offers neither seatback entertainment nor Wi-Fi. Bring an iPad and download liberally before leaving home.

Vietjet’s website was showing Economy fares from about AU$248 one-way from WSI to Ho Chi Minh City. But remember Vietjet is a low-cost carrier, so what you pay and what service you get will depend heavily on fare type and extras. Basic Economy includes carry-on baggage, while checked baggage, meals and other inclusions vary over catagories of Economy, Deluxe, SkyBoss and Business fares and promotions.

Western Sydney is a natural market

A WSI spokesperson says around three million people live within an hour of the airport. That includes more than half of Greater Sydney’s Vietnamese population, about 70,000 people. That gives the airline a sizeable visiting-friends-and-relatives market on the airport’s doorstep.

More than half a million people travelled between NSW and Vietnam during 2025.

The route is also receiving a taxpayer subsidy from the NSW Government’s Western Sydney International Take-Off Fund.

Vietjet already flies from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney Kingsford Smith, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, so WSI becomes its fifth Australian destination. Ho Chi Minh City also provides connections across Vietjet’s substantial Vietnamese and Asian network.

Bangkok comes next

More interestingly, Vietjet Thailand is planning four flights a week between Western Sydney and Bangkok from November 2027. That’s more than a year away, so breath-holding should not be indulged in.

Route	Start	Frequency	Status
Western Sydney (WSI) to Bangkok (BKK)	Nov 2027	4 x week	Subject to regulatory approval

Schedules have yet to be announced, but they would mark Vietjet Thailand’s entry into Australia.

Suddenly WSI’s international network is beginning to look quite respectable. Vietjet joins Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Jetstar and Qantas as confirmed carriers, while Fiji Airways has also been circling the airport with a possible Nadi service.

And remember those Australian airline rumours

Back in June, 2PAXfly reported that Vietjet was understood to be exploring an Australian Air Operator’s Certificate and potentially establishing a domestic airline, with reports suggesting an initial operation using Boeing 737s. Neither Vietjet nor CASA confirmed those plans at the time.

More recent reporting has continued to link Vietjet with an Australian domestic operation. If anything comes of that proposal, an established international presence at WSI could become rather more strategically important than these few weekly Vietnam flights initially suggest.

WSI, with its 24-hour operations, ample capacity and large Western Sydney catchment, is exactly the sort of airport where an ambitious low-cost operator might see opportunity. Sydney Kingsford Smith, by comparison, isn’t exactly awash with spare slots.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is an important but modest expansion of VietJet’s presence in Australia. But it is an important feather in the WSI newly minted passenger service cap.

And if those reports of Vietjet establishing an Australian domestic airline eventually amount to something, today’s announcement may turn out to be more about Vietjet planting a flag at Western Sydney.

Given Australia’s recent record with new airlines, I won’t start embroidering Vietjet logos onto the antimacassars just yet.