Slot data for the upcoming 2026-27 Winter season shows that low-cost carrier Vietjet Air is planning up to seven daily return flights out of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD). Reports suggest the Vietnamese carrier plans to establish a subsidiary airline in Sydney, with an eye on serving many of the country’s popular domestic city pairings.
The move would provide competition to the country’s longstanding Qantas-Virgin duopoly, and Vietjet would become the first foreign airline to challenge the two Australian carriers on home turf in more than a decade. The new Australian unit plans to start flying with up to ten Boeing 737s and would arrive amid the opening of Sydney’s secondary airport, Western Sydney International Airport (WSI), which is set to free up congestion at SYD.
Earlier this month, aviation account Analytic Flying noted on X that over 2,250 slots at SYD during the 26/27 Winter season had been allocated to an unnamed operator, representing a significant commitment for up to seven daily roundtrips. This inevitably attracted speculation about which airline could be behind the move, with some pinpointing upcoming Australian low-cost carrier Koala Airlines as a likely candidate.
However, a report by the Australian Financial Review has confirmed that a new Vietjet subsidiary wants to take these slots. The Vietnamese carrier has approached Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) seeking an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and approval for a local unit flying up to ten Boeing 737 aircraft.
Vietjet is no stranger to establishing foreign subsidiaries, currently operating both Thai Vietjet Air and Vietjet Qazaqstan outside of Vietnam. It also maintains a considerable presence in Australia, flying to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney from its Ho Chi Minh base. Simple Flying reached out to Vietjet for comment on this news, but a representative could not be reached before publication.
The entrance of a foreign-owned domestic operator would represent a significant shift in the Australian industry, which has been dominated by Qantas and Virgin Australia for decades. Since the demise of both Bonza and Rex, Qantas, its wholly-owned subsidiary Jetstar, and Virgin Australia now operate around 99% of all domestic flights in Australia.
The acquisition of up to seven daily slots at SYD is a major coup for Vietjet, as the country’s busiest airport has long been a difficult entry point for new airlines. Movements are capped at 80 takeoffs and landings per hour, and the vast majority of slots are held closely by incumbent airlines. SYD’s slots are managed by Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), which has cracked down on perceived “slot hoarding” by Qantas and Virgin.
The now-defunct Bonza had a tough time establishing itself at SYD, ultimately never flying from the airport due to expensive fees and undesirable slot timings. Rex also used to fly out of SYD, first establishing service at the airport way back in 2002. However, after betting big on routes to Brisbane and Melbourne in 2021, the carrier’s poor load factors eventually contributed to its collapse.
The airport will encourage more dynamic flight operations.
The brand-new Western Sydney International Airport is scheduled to open in late October 2026, the same time Vietjet’s new slots go live. The second airport’s additional capacity will ease the strain on SYD and may have given the Vietnamese carrier access to more preferable timings.
Unlike SYD, Western Sydney will not have a night curfew or hourly movement cap. The airport will kick off passenger service with a domestic Jetstar flight, with Qantas and QantasLink to launch in March 2027. Another hopeful entrant to the Australian market, Zinc Airlines, has set its sights on Western Sydney as a base, planning an all-Airbus A321neo fleet as it seeks to emulate Ryanair’s successful ultra-low-cost model.
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