Booking agents plan to sue Indochina Airlines

Many booking agencies are gathering the necessary documents needed to lodge a formal complaint with relevant agencies over the “disappearance” of the private airline carrier Indochina Airlines. Booking agencies claim Indochina Airlines still has their deposit money.

At least ten booking agencies in Hanoi and HCM City have told VnExpress that they cannot retrieve dozens of millions of dong they deposited with Indochina Airlines, although the airline carrier has stopped flying over the last year. Until now, there has been no news from Indochina Airlines’ General Director Ha Hung Dung and the air carrier’s leadership.

Pham Hong Thang, head of a booking agency on Yet Kieu street in Hanoi, said that his booking agency still has more than 10 million dong left with Indochina Airlines. Thang said the agency contract is in his name. Therefore, if he cannot recover a debt from Indochina Airlines, he will have to pay his company with his own money. “Ten million dong is not a big sum of money, but we are unhappy with the way the air carrier has behaved,” he said.

He added that booking agencies would be sympathetic towards the difficulties Indochina Airlines now faces. However, the problem is that the airline carrier disappeared without any trace, without releasing a notice or commenting on its status. “We don’t know who to call, where to send letter, or who to make claims with,” Thang said.

The owner of Thanh Long booking agency in Hanoi said the agency has 32 million dong in deposit money still with Indochina Airlines. “I am getting tired of the promises to start flights again, pay money back, and to pay commissions again,” he said.

The owner of the booking agency has on numerous occasions come to the representative office of Indochina Airlines in Hanoi and received promises from the airline to fulfill its duties. However, even the airline’s representative still does not know when the airline will fulfill its duties.

Hai, the owner of Hoang Gia Nguyen booking agency, said about 100 booking agencies in HCM City are facing the same problem: they deposited money at Indochina Airlines, but they have not been able to take back their money since the airline stopped flying. Hoang Gia Nguyen still has 15 million dong with Indochina Airlines. “There are some 200 booking agents, and if every booking agent deposited 20 million dong, then the total sum of money Indochina Airlines is still holding would be about four billion dong,” he estimated.

Many booking agents in Hanoi have decided to lodge a complaint to the relevant agencies over the disappearance of Indochina Airlines. The owner of a booking agency in Hanoi said the move not only aims to get their money back, but also has another goal. “We want the General Director Ha Hung Dung to raise his voice,” he said.

Local newspaper VnExpress also said it could not contact Dung and other leaders of Indochina Airlines over the last few years, despite the airline promising to resume flights. While claiming to wait for the airline to take off again, leaders of Indochina Airlines have been taking other jobs to earn a living. One of them is now running a booking agency on Dao Tan street in Hanoi, selling airline tickets for other airline carriers.

An official from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) also said CAAV has not received any information from Indochina Airlines over the last few months. In April 2010, the airline promised to take off again in October, but it has not taken any further steps since then.

Regarding Indochina Airlines’ debts, he said in case booking agents and the airline cannot settle disputes, the booking agencies have the right to sue the airline carrier in court.

Indochina Airlines has also not paid money back to passengers who bought tickets on canceled flights. The airline carrier has not paid salaries to its staff since 2009.

Indochina Airlines halted flights in October 2009 after it became bogged down in debt.-VnExpress

Tags: Indochina Airlines, Vietnam aviation, Vietnam aviation industry, Vietnam aviation market