Vietnam to resume regular overseas flights in January

Spanish Market: Oil products
13/12/21

Vietnam will resume regular international passenger flights to selected countries from 1 January, a move that is likely to provide a slight boost to jet fuel demand in the region.

The country's civil aviation authority announced a pilot plan over the weekend to resume regular commercial international passenger flights starting with countries with a "high safety factor".

These countries include China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia and the US, according to a notice on the civil aviation authority website.

The resumption of regular flights aims to promote economic recovery and tourism and allow Vietnamese nationals to return home for the lunar new year, said the notice.

The country had grounded international flights and suspended entry of all foreigners since March last year, allowing entry only to Vietnamese repatriates, foreign experts and high-skilled workers with quarantine requirements. But it began to allow in vaccinated tourists on designated tours to select locations from November.

Vietnam is among several countries in the region that have forged ahead with easing travel restrictions in the wake of the discovery of the new Covid-19 Omicron variant. The jet fuel market has continued to shake off the impact from Omicron as margins, or Argus' assessed Singapore jet fuel swaps against Dubai crude values, continued to exceed $11/bl as of 10 December, up from a 2½-month low of $6.97/bl on 30 November.

Vietnam, a net importer of jet fuel, could be poised to take in more jet fuel with the resumption of international flights. It imported around 304,400 bl of jet fuel in the first half of November, up from just 78,600 bl in all of October, according to preliminary customs data.

By Cara Wong

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