Vietravel gets government green light for setting up airline

Vietravel Airlines would operate both domestic and international flights using Airbus or Boeing aircraft, starting with a fleet of three and gradually expanding to eight aircraft by the fifth year.

It would be based at Phu Bai International Airport in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, and have a charter capital of VND700 billion ($30 million).

It would be allowed to fly 10 months after receiving the approval, meaning its first flight would be in early 2021 at the earliest.

The government has tasked Thua Thien-Hue authorities with appraising the project and inspect and oversee Vietravel's implementation and capital mobilization.

The Ministry of Transport has been instructed to gather other ministries and sectors' opinions on the licensing and Vietravel Airlines’ ability to meet capital requirements. 

The green light came after the Ministry of Planning and Investment confirmed that Vietravel had transferred the entire charter capital of VND700 billion to the carrier.

Vietravel, one of the largest tour companies in the country, organizes charter flights, and with the new airline it aims to use 55 percent of its seats to transport its own customers and offer the remaining 45 percent to other travel companies as charter flights. 

Vietravel Airlines will enter a fiercely competitive aviation market which already has six players: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Jetstar Pacific, Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO), Bamboo Airways, and newly-licensed Vietstar Airlines, a military-run company.

But the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit all of them hard by forcing them to cancel all international flights and most domestic ones.