Vietravel loses $3.9 mln in pandemic-hit 2020

By Dat Nguyen February 4, 2021 | 05:00 pm PT

Vietravel Airlines' Airbus A321ceo plane. Photo courtesy of Vietravel Airlines.

Leading tourism company Vietravel reported a loss of VND90 billion ($3.9 million) in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic slashed travel demand.

Revenues were down 73 percent to VND1.94 trillion. The company saw spending on loan interests surging 2.5 times last year to VND83 billion.

On the positive side, the company received the license for its Vietravel Airlines and began commercial flights last month with three Airbus A321ceo aircraft.

The airline has recruited 200 pilots and crew members. It plans to expand its fleet to 30 and operate regular services to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Northeast Asia.

Vietravel chairman Nguyen Quoc Ky told VnExpress recently that the latest Covid-19 outbreak last month has dashed the company’s hopes of a recovery during the Lunar New Year holidays this month after forcing it to suspend or reroute all tours in the north.

Vietnam’s tourism industry went through one of its most difficult years ever last year after the pandemic reduced the number of foreign arrivals by nearly 79 percent to 3.8 million, according to the General Statistics Office.

Revenues fell by nearly 56 percent to VND17.9 trillion as flights were canceled and people, fearful of contracting the disease, were reluctant to make travel plans.