Vietnamese airlines told to rent planes amid global shortage

In a document sent to the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) on Monday, the CAAV requested airlines like Vietjet, Tre Viet (Bamboo Airways), Pacific Airlines and Vietravel Airlines to increase the number of planes for both domestic and international air routes, with attention paid to tourism air routes.

Specifically, airlines should rent out planes from all over the world to increase the number of planes.

Airlines also need to specify a flexible ticket price range and continue to have ticket price discount policies on appropriate domestic air routes.

The CAAV recommends people book tickets early, so there would be multiple options for different prices, as well as allowing airlines the opportunities to distribute their resources, minimizing cancellations and reducing burdens.

Malfunctioned plane engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney have caused planes to be recalled, leading to a global plane shortage. Vietnamese airlines currently have 165-170 planes at their disposal, a drop of 40-45 planes from last year's average.

The domestic aviation market now depends on the capabilities of Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet. Pacific Airlines had to stop flights after having all planes recalled back in March. Bamboo Airways and Vietravel Airlines now only have five and three planes left, respectively.

Within the first quarter, Vietnamese airlines transported 13 million passengers, a 5% drop compared to the same period in 2023. The number of domestic passengers also declined, by 18% to 8.5 million.