Travel agency intends to invest in Vietnam’s sixth airline: CEO

By Minh Nga   February 3, 2019 | 04:04 pm PT
Travel agency intends to invest in Vietnam’s sixth airline: CEO
If launched, Vietravel's airline will be the sixth in Vietnam. Photo by Pixabay.
Vietravel is nurturing a plan to launch its own airline to meet the demand that it predicts will keep rising in the future.

The company's CEO Nguyen Quoc Ky said the domestic aviation market is still "full of potential."

With a population of more than 100 million and the number of foreign visitors rising steadily year after year, hitting the highest ever at 15.5 million last year, it is still modest for Vietnam to have only five airlines, he told a recent meeting on tourism in Hue, Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon reported.

Vietravel wants to have its airline headquartered in the central town of Hue, he added.

"The plan of Vietravel will help create more new flight routes to and from Hue, and thus connect the city with more tourists," said Nguyen Van Phuc, deputy director of Thua Thien – Hue Province, home to the imperial town of Hue.

This will also get along with a plan to upgrade Phu Bai International Airport in Hue to raise its annual capacity from 1.5 million passengers to 5 million.

Vietravel has taken the first steps into the airline industry through organizing charter flights with its partners.

For the past two years, it has operated around 300 charter flights both domestically and internationally each year.

Vietnam’s newest airline, Bamboo Airway, recently completed its maiden flight.

The four other carriers currently in Vietnam are Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific, and VASCO.

Together, the four of them transport more than 50 million passengers last year, up 14 percent against 2017, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

The number of passengers through Vietnam airports during the year increased 12.9 percent to 106 million passengers.

 
 
go to top