Who will benefit from the Vietnam Airlines – ANA Holdings deal?
With a value of VND2.4 trillion, the deal between Vietnam Airlines and ANA Holdings is expected to make big changes to the aviation market. The airline sold 8.771% to the Japanese-owned ANA.
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During the equitization process, Vietnam Airlines, in collaboration with MS&CG, the consultancy firm, carried out a market survey, the first round in the process of selecting strategic investors.
The consultant sent the teaser and NDA (non-disclosure agreements) to 19 investors, including 14 air carriers and five financial institutions. After one year of searching, Vietnam Airlines finally chose ANA Holdings Inc as its strategic investor.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the strategic cooperation was signed on January 12, 2016.
On May 28, 2016, the two signed a cooperation agreement before Vietnamese and Japanese Prime Ministers. From July 1, ANA will officially become the strategic shareholder of Vietnam Airlines.
Analysts say passengers will first benefit from the codeshare of the two airlines on 30 domestic air routes in each country and 10 international air routes between Vietnam and Japan.
Under the frequent-flyer program (FFP), the passengers flying with either Vietnam Airlines or ANA Holdings can accumulate fly miles to enjoy preferences as the members of each other’s clubs. This means that 26 million ANA and 850,000 Vietnam Airlines’ club members will benefit from the cooperation.
Moreover, from August 201, both will gradually provide services to each other at destination points in Vietnam and Japan, including passenger check-in, land services, catering and aircraft maintenance.
Vietnam Airlines will not only get bigger strength from the capital to be injected to by ANA Holdings, but it can also expect many other big benefits.
ANA Holding is expected to help Vietnam Airlines improve its corporate governance skills, improve quality and share the fly network in the 5-year development plan.
The strategic cooperation is believed to help the parties exploit each other’s advantages to expand the fly network and the international market.
ANA, as the Japanese leading air carrier and one of the 5-star air service providers in the world is expected to transfer the corporate governance technique to Vietnam Airlines.
A report showed that about 600,000 Japanese people come to Vietnam every year, while the figure increases by 50% per annum.
According to ANA Holdings, in the future, when TPP (the Trans Pacific Partnership) Agreement takes effects, this will stimulate the travel demand among TPP member countries. Therefore, the cooperation between Vietnam Airlines and ANA would help promote the cultural and economic exchange.
