Domestic airlines plan to receive new aircraft this year
VOV.VN - The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has made a proposal to the Ministry of Transport allowing domestic airlines to add more aircraft this year in a bid to meet people’s increasing travel demand and to take advantage of market recovery globally.
Currently, five Vietnamese airlines - Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air, Pacific Airlines, Bamboo Airways, and Viettravel Airlines – are operating 225 planes, or nine fewer than the figure in January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Vietnam.
Vietravel Airlines on April 26 announced its plan to receive three additional aircraft in the third quarter of the year, increasing its fleet to six aircraft this year.
In the first quarter of the year, Vietravel Airlines successfully operated more than 11,600 flights, carrying nearly 2.5 million passengers, with the average occupancy rate of flights reaching 93.7%. The carrier also aims to expand to the international market this year.
Meanwhile, VietJet Air also plans to increase the fleet to 87 aircraft, including 9 Airbus A330s. It aims to reach agreements with aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, to ensure timely delivery of the new aircraft.
According to calculations made on actual operation of Vietnamese airlines, one aircraft transports 250,000 passengers on average annually. With the domestic market forecast to serve 45.5 million passengers this year, 182 aircraft are needed to fly domestic flights.
For the international market, it is expected that local airlines will transport about 13.6 million passengers, equivalent to 57 aircraft. The number of aircraft operated by Vietnamese airlines is anticipated to increase slightly, from 230 in the opening months of the year to 250 in the final months of the year.