Bamboo Airways to list by year-end

By Dat Nguyen   May 18, 2020 | 11:59 pm PT
Bamboo Airways to list by year-end
A Bamboo Airways aircraft at the Da Nang International Airport in Da Nang City. Photo by Shutterstock/Jeffry Surianto.
Bamboo Airways, whose hopes to list this quarter were dashed by the Covid-19 outbreak, is now eyeing a last quarter listing.

The company plans to list on the main bourse, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, according to Bamboo Airways.

The airline plans to double its domestic routes to 60 this year and increase its number of international destinations from six to 25. It plans to buy 60 General Electric engines for $2 billion for its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets, Bamboo Airways said.

The carrier last year signed an agreement to buy 10 of the aircraft for $3 billion on top of a deal for 20 for $5.6 billion in 2018.

It also plans to lease more aircraft this year to serve its expansion plans. It operates 45-50 flights a day now, and plans to increase it to 100 by early next month, or 80 percent of its pre-pandemic schedule.

It is set to begin a direct service to the U.S. at the end of 2021 or early in 2022.

With Vietnamese authorities restricting flights to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Bamboo Airways suffered a loss of over VND1.5 trillion ($65 million) in the first quarter.

Vietnam is allowing a gradual resumption of domestic flights after almost completely banning them in March and April, which caused losses worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the two largest carriers, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet.

International flights remain suspended except for special ones approved by the government to repatriate people.

 
 
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