Vietnam leads South-East Asian growth

Investment and economic opportunities follow passenger growth

China and India may grab the headlines when it comes to spectacular growth in the aviation sector but there’s another country in the region which isn’t far behind. Vietnam took some time to emerge from years of conflict and its restrictive socialist regime but if communism can have a capitalist face then Hanoi is doing everything it can to sow the seeds of economic growth, particularly when it comes to aviation.

New airlines are emerging from the shadows to jump on the opportunities provided by a booming tourism industry. Airports are being modernized and expanded and regulations are being eased to help newcomers compete with foreign rivals. In November 2019, a Prime Minister’s decree also raised the foreign investors’ ownership limit in Vietnamese air transport businesses to 34 per cent from the previous 30 per cent. It came into effect on 1 January 2020.