Pioneering budget carrier AirAsia plans to fly to Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang in Vietnam after launching its maiden direct flight to Hanoi.

Group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said the Malaysian carrier had submitted a proposal to fly to Ho Chi Minh and was also keen to service the Da Nang route.

AirAsia began offering from Wednesday a single Kuala Lumpur-Hanoi-Kuala Lumpur flight daily at RM99 one way.

Direct flights to Vietnam would attract tourists from the Asean region, Europe and the United States, Fernandes said.

He said there was great business potential for budget carriers to fly to Vietnam.

"We have been providing flights from Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi through Bangkok and we have been seeing a lot of foreign tourists using the flights," he was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

AirAsia was launched as a budget carrier in December 2001 with just two aircraft. It now offers more than 100 domestic and international flights to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines.