Vietnamese budget airline VietJet has announced “direct flights” from New Delhi to Ho Chi Minh City later this year. The airline will fly four times a week, starting sometime between July and August this year.

The official announcement says “direct flights”, though all other communication implies these will be non-stop flights. The two terms are used interchangeably, but they don’t mean the same thing. A direct flight can include stop-overs at one or more airports—it simply means you don’t have to change flights along the way. A non-stop flight, on the other hand, is just that—non-stop (more here). Currently, there are no non-stop flights between India and Vietnam. Most flights take you via Thailand, Singapore or Malaysia.

The ‘bikini airline’

More than its network or service, it’s the racy—some say sexist—marketing stunts that VietJet is better known for. The airline—founded and run by a woman entrepreneur—has been publishing an annual calendar featuring bikini-clad models dressed as flight attendants, pilots and ground staff.

It has also copped flak for its on-board “fashion shows” featuring models in swimsuits walking down the aisle. In 2002, it had five contestants from a local beauty pageant perform a number mid-air. The airline was fined 20 million dong (just Rs55,000) for risking air safety. That was clearly not bad enough, because in January this year, VietJet did an encore—parading lingerie models down the aircraft that was flying the national football team. Even the livery painted on the outside of some of its aircraft shows “flight attendants” blowing kisses at you.

VietJet sees things differently though. “We are not upset when people associate us with the bikini image. If that makes people delighted and happy, then we’ll be happy,” Luu Duc Khanh, VietJet’s managing director, told Reuters. Thi Phuong Thao, the billionaire woman CEO of VietJet takes that one step ahead, saying the calendar and the bikini shows are “empowering images in Vietnam’s conservative culture”. Welcome to Delhi, then.