Vietjet aims for fourth quarter takeoff

Upstart carrier Vietjet Air is confident it can avoid the fate of now-comatose Indochina Air. Jetstar is repainting its fleet and Mekong Air has taken the first steps toward obtaining an air operator’s certificate.

Indochina Airlines is all but dead. Deep in debt, beyond a vague promise to resume flights in October, it’s kept silent since it stopped providing commercial flights late in 2009. No aircraft, headquarters, website or activity are evident. General Director Ha Hung Dung does not answer the calls made by reporters. VnExpress reports that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAV) has proposed that the Ministry of Transport revoke the Indochina Air business license.

Vietjet Air, the would-be next competitor in the domestic aviation market, has asked for the permission to delay its takeoff until the fourth quarter of the year. The private airline, in which Air Asia has taken a thirty percent stake, expresses confidence in its ability to meet the conditions set by CAAV regarding its branding, logo design and development plan

CAAV, which had objected to Vietjet’s plan to operate as ‘Vietjet-AirAsia’ on the grounds that customers would be confused, now says it has recommended that the Ministry of Transport allow Vietjet to delay its launch until the fourth quarter.

Another hopeful, Mekong Air, hopes to obtain its operating certificate and be in a position to start providing flights in the fourth quarter as well.

Meanwhile, the budget airline Jetstar Pacific (JP) has caved to CAAV’s repeated demand that it repaint its fleet and change its logo. The Australian air giant, Qantas, has a 30 percent stake in JP, and its flights are coordinated with the international service offered by Quantas’ discount subsidiary, Jetstar.

Jetstar has offered strong competition to the national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, especially on the high-volume Hanoi-HCM City route. In the Jetstar case also, CAV accepted Vietnam Air’s argument that if JP were allowed to continue use of a logo and colors similar to Jetstar, customers would be confused into thinking the Australian carrier was actually Vietnamese.

JP was told that its business license would not be renewed on September 15 unless it submitted acceptable plans to rebadge its aircraft and advertising – in particular a change of logo and symbol.

A CAAV official said that Jetstar Pacific ought to have finished the painting of aircrafts and the logo change in June. However, as this is a complicated matter, CAAV has allowed an extension of the deadline to September 15.

JP has removed its offending billboards at Noi Bai (Hanoi) and Tan Son Nhat (HCM City), Da Nang, Hue, Vinh and Hai Phong Airports. The cost of repainting each of its aircraft is estimated at $150,000.

VnExpress

Tags: VietJet, Vietnam aviation, Vietnam aviation industry, Vietnam aviation market