Bamboo Airways launched in 2019 as the third Vietnamese airline to matter, pitched as a "hybrid" between full-service and low-cost — more legroom than Vietjet, a free meal, but cheaper than Vietnam Airlines. For a while it worked. By 2022 the airline had over 30 aircraft including Boeing 787-9 widebodies, was flying to London, Frankfurt, and Melbourne, and was eyeing a US IPO.
Then it all came apart.
What actually happened to Bamboo Airways?
Bamboo's parent company, FLC Group, collapsed in 2022-2023. Founder and FLC chairman Trinh Van Quyet was arrested on stock manipulation charges in March 2022 and later convicted. FLC's listed companies were suspended, credit lines pulled, and the airline — never profitable on its own — ran out of operating cash.
The 2023 restructuring was brutal:
- All five Boeing 787-9 widebodies returned to lessors.
- International long-haul routes (London, Frankfurt, Melbourne) discontinued.
- Most regional international routes cut or reduced.
- Fleet shrunk from ~30 aircraft to a much smaller narrowbody-only operation.
- Thousands of staff let go.
- New investors took over the airline; the carrier survived, barely.
In 2026 Bamboo is a functioning but much smaller airline, flying Airbus A320/A321 narrowbodies on a handful of domestic trunk routes plus a few regional international services. This is not the Bamboo of 2022. Be clear-eyed about that before you book.
What does the current product look like?
On paper, Bamboo still sells three fare families — Economy, Business, and a couple of bundle variants. On A320/A321 narrowbodies, "Business" means the front couple of rows with a wider recliner, extra legroom, priority boarding, and a proper meal. It is not a lie-flat bed. It is a reasonably comfortable 90-minute-to-2-hour product.
Economy includes a checked bag on most fare types (confirm at booking — the cheapest promo fares sometimes don't), a small snack and drink, and standard A320-family seat pitch. The in-flight product, when it's running, is genuinely pleasant — cabin crew are well trained, the aircraft interiors are reasonably fresh, and the overall feel is closer to Vietnam Airlines than to Vietjet.
The problem is frequency. On a route where Vietnam Airlines runs 10 daily flights and Vietjet runs 12, Bamboo might run 2 or 3. If one is canceled or delayed, your rebooking options within Bamboo are limited.
Is Bamboo Airways worth booking in 2026?
It depends on the route and the price.
Book Bamboo when:
- It's meaningfully cheaper than Vietnam Airlines on a route you can fly at Bamboo's schedule.
- You want a slightly better product than Vietjet for a few extra dollars.
- You're flying a short domestic hop and have schedule flexibility.
Skip Bamboo when:
- You're on a tight itinerary with a cruise, international onward flight, or one-time event.
- You need multiple daily flight options on the route.
- The price delta over Vietjet is more than $20 — at that point, just pay for Vietnam Airlines.
Rough comparison
| Vietnam Airlines | Bamboo | Vietjet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checked bag in fare | Usually yes | Usually yes | Paid extra |
| Meal/snack | Yes | Yes (small) | Paid extra |
| Seat pitch | Standard | Standard | Tight (29") |
| Daily frequency | High | Low | High |
| OTP (typical) | Good | Average | Below average |
| Price | Highest | Middle | Lowest |
How to book
Use bambooairways.com directly. Fare display is clearer than OTAs, and in a post-restructuring world you want the ticket issued by the carrier, not a middleman. Major OTAs (Traveloka, Trip.com, 12Go) also sell Bamboo; prices are usually matched.
One practical point: travel insurance matters more with smaller airlines. If you're booking Bamboo three months out, buy a policy that covers airline insolvency. It's usually $20-40 and buys peace of mind.
Routes Bamboo still flies well
- Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City — still a trunk route for Bamboo with multiple daily flights.
- Hanoi to Da Nang — served, but check schedule density before booking.
- Hanoi-Nha Trang and Hanoi-Phu Quoc — retained as leisure-heavy trunk routes.
For the broader mode comparison, see our getting around Vietnam guide and the domestic flights overview.
The honest verdict
Bamboo Airways is a working airline with a reasonable product on the routes it still flies. It is also a shadow of what it once was, operating in a market where Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet have more aircraft, more daily rotations, and more reliable rebooking options. Use Bamboo opportunistically — when the price and schedule line up — but don't plan a critical itinerary around it. Travelers who lived through the 2023 wave of cancellations won't have forgotten.
Limitations
Bamboo Airways went through financial restructuring in 2023-2024 that reduced its fleet by roughly half and triggered route cancellations across the domestic network — the carrier's operational stability has not fully recovered, and some routes that appeared in 2022-era guides are no longer flown. Workaround: verify current route availability directly via the Bamboo Airways website or a current aggregator before assuming the carrier serves your city pair; have a backup option (Vietnam Airlines or VietJet) confirmed for the same dates in case Bamboo's schedule changes.
The mid-premium positioning that originally distinguished Bamboo from VietJet (slightly better service, fewer delays) narrowed during the restructuring — the price-quality gap is now smaller than it was pre-2023. Workaround: compare current fares directly rather than assuming Bamboo's pre-2023 reputation; on price-sensitive routes the savings vs Vietnam Airlines may not justify the operational-risk premium Bamboo now carries.