Vietnam Airlines expands horizons

Vietnam Airlines plans to fly to more destinations and increase its total fleet to 163 as part of a bold move to achieve an annual revenue of US$7 billion by 2020.

The company has also targeted a 45-per-cent share of the country’s aviation market in the same year.

The new aircraft would include Boeing 787s or Airbus 350s which would be capable of carrying 35 million passengers and 620,000 tonnes of goods per year by 2020, the carrier announced last week.

Last year, Vietnam Airlines carried 12.3 million passengers with 4.3 million foreign passengers for a profit of VND356 billion ($18.3 million), an increase of 164 per cent on 2009. The company also received revenues of VND36.265 trillion ($1.86 billion), a year-on-year rise of 33.7 per cent.

After 15 years of operation, the airline had flown a total 678,550 domestic and international flights, accounting for 87 per cent of domestic market share and 40 per cent of international market share, Vietnam Airlines’ General Director Pham Ngoc Minh said.

According to a Vietnam Airlines’ report, the carrier had carried 82 million passengers in the past 15 years with an annual growth for the domestic and international market of 12.1 per cent.

The national flag carrier has also increased the number of domestic flights for the third time since January 3 for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

For the periods January 27-February 1 and February 4-14, the carrier will add more flights from HCM City to Hue, Phu Quoc island, Quy Nhon, Pleiku and Vinh.

Under the change, there will be a total of 41 flights from HCM City to Hue for the two periods, with a total of seven flights per day.

The HCM City-Phu Quoc route will have a total of 20 flights; HCM City-Pleiku, 13 flights and HCM City-Vinh, six flights.

The airline said tickets for flights from HCM City to Ha Noi and Da Nang from now to January 26 are still available. These are mainly evening flights from January 27 to February 2.

The additional flights from Ha Noi or Da Nang to HCM City from February 6-13 are mostly evening as well.

It plans to sell any remaining tickets for the period on January 17. Customers on waiting lists will be given priority. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam airlines