DELHI- India’s largest airline, IndiGo Airlines (6E), is adding another Vietnamese city to its network with daily flights between Delhi and Hanoi starting December 20, 2025. The airline is also upgrading its Mumbai operations to Southeast Asia with increased frequencies and better aircraft on popular routes.
Vietnam has become a competitive market with multiple carriers seeing potential. The country’s growing middle class is now traveling more. Indian tourists keep discovering Vietnamese destinations. Business ties are also expanding rapidly.
IndiGo Airlines Delhi to Hanoi Flights
The new Delhi-Hanoi route will operate once daily using an Airbus A320. Flights will operate with a rotation to Kolkata. One aircraft will leave Delhi in the morning to complete a Delhi-Hanoi-Kolkata rotation. Another aircraft will depart from Kolkata in the afternoon for Hanoi, then fly to Delhi.
- Flight 6E1633 leaves Delhi at 07:25 am IST and will arrive in Hanoi at 01:00 pm local time.
- The return flight 6E1634 departs Hanoi at 6:00 pm local time after arriving from Kolkata and returns to Delhi at 9:25 pm IST.
Vietnam has become increasingly popular with Indian travelers. Visa rules have been relaxed, and bilateral ties have improved. For business travelers, this connects two important Asian capitals directly without routing through Bangkok or Singapore.
IndiGo already flies to both Hanoi in the north and Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. Kolkata-Vietnam has been the only Vietnam network for the airline for a very long time. The airline appeared happy funneling pax from across India via Kolkata.
This Kolkata monopoly is broken now. Adding Delhi-Hanoi gives coverage to the Vietnamese capital from both major Indian cities. The route should capture both tourism and business traffic between the countries.
Mumbai Network Upgrades
IndiGo is improving its Southeast Asian connections from Mumbai with two significant changes.
The Mumbai-Singapore route is getting a second daily flight from Winter 2025. Singapore is one of IndiGo’s busiest international routes. Adding a second frequency gives travelers more timing options.
This will also enable IndiGo to connect their European bank well with their Singapore flights. While one flight can be timed to connect the pax arriving from Europe, the other can be timed to carry the departing pax to Europe via Mumbai.
On the other hand, the Phuket route will be upgraded. IndiGo will switch to a two-class A321neo with both economy and premium sections. IndiGo has been expanding its Stretch product to international destinations. The airline also offers a Stretch from 3 Indian cities, now including Bengaluru, apart from Delhi and Mumbai.
Adding a premium cabin to Phuket is a strange move, though. The leisure passengers are the most cost-conscious. The A321neo with Stretch is bigger and carries more passengers with a longer range.
Southeast Asia Strategy
IndiGo’s recent Southeast Asia expansion has been spectacular. The airline recently added Krabi from Delhi and continues to add more.
The airline already serves Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and many more. The airline is also adding flights to Siem Reap, which will add another country to its network in Southeast Asia coverage.
Southeast Asia seems to be working well for IndiGo in building a hub in Mumbai and building their Europe network. Flight times are also manageable, often 3 to 5 hours. There also exists demand for both business and leisure travel as well. Tourism flows in both directions.
IndiGo’s domestic network gives it an advantage over competitors as well. They can feed passengers from smaller Indian cities through Delhi and Mumbai to international destinations. Overall, IndiGo clearly thinks the Vietnam opportunity is worth another try after the 2023 plans fell through.
Bottom Line
This isn’t IndiGo’s first attempt at Vietnamese expansion from Delhi. Back in 2023, the airline had planned Delhi-Hanoi four times weekly and Delhi-Ho Chi Minh City three times weekly. However, neither of the routes was actually launched. Those plans just disappeared without any explanation.
Now, IndiGo is trying again with a daily Hanoi service. The daily frequency suggests more confidence this time. They’re committing more capacity than the 2023 plan’s four weekly flights.
The two-class A321neo on Mumbai-Phuket also signals competition with full-service carriers. Air India and Thai Airways offer premium cabins on similar routes. IndiGo adding premium seating means they’re not ceding that market segment entirely.
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