Vietjet Air eyes 10% profit growth this year

The goals were adopted at the airline’s annual shareholder meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on April 26.

Vietjet Air plans to operate more than 120,000 flights with a total of 66 aircraft, an increase from 51 last year, and serve over 24.1 million passengers by the end of 2018. Additionally, it will provide services on a total of 100 air routes, including 39 domestic and 61 international airways.

It will increase international flights to destinations in North Asia and Southeast Asia and expand cooperation with other airlines that operate flights to Europe and America. It is developing plans to launch flights to Australia, Japan, Indonesia and India.

The carrier will put the Vietjet Aviation Academy into operation in 2018. The establishment will provide a full flight simulator for flight crew training, being run in cooperation with aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

In 2017, Vietjet Air carried over 17.11 million passengers on over 98,800 flights. It generated VND42.3 trillion (US$1.84 billion) in turnover and VND5.07 trillion (US$223.08 million) in after-tax profit, a year-on-year surge of 54% and 73% from the previous year. Earnings per share reached VND11,356.

The airlines’ shares have been listed on the Stock Exchange of Ho Chi Minh City (HOSE) since last year, demonstrating commitment by the firm’s Board of Directors to applying international standards in management and ensuring information transparency.

Following positive business results, the carrier’s Board of Directors received approval from the shareholders to raise the dividend rate of 2017 from 50% to 60%. Accordingly, the company advanced 30% dividend payment in cash and will pay another cash dividend of 10% on May 25. The remainder of 20% will be paid in stocks.