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Tag: Pacific Airlines

  • Bamboo Airways set to downsize fleet

    Bamboo Airways set to downsize fleet

    After restructuring its flight network, Bamboo Airways has said it will also reduce the number of aircraft to lower costs.

    An executive at the airline said the restructuring in the past two months included discontinuing unprofitable routes.

    The airline has not yet announced the number or type of aircraft that will be grounded.

    According to German civil aviation database Planespotters, Bamboo Airways currently operates 23 aircraft, seven fewer than last year.

    It plans to seek approval from regulatory authorities to increase the size of its fleet to over 30 in future, though again, no concrete plans have been announced.

    In a recent report to the Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said it supports the expansion plan but added the airline needs to ensure it has the financial capacity, human resources, and aviation infrastructure.

    By flying three different aircraft – Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer – that do not allow interoperability, Bamboo Airways has additional costs in terms of hiring pilots, technicians, and training instructors for each of them.

    Many other Vietnamese carriers, such as Vietjet, Pacific Airlines, and Vietravel Airlines, only fly Airbus aircraft.

    All of Vietnam Airlines’ narrow-body aircraft are from Airbus, while its wide-body ones are a mix of Airbus and Boeing.

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  • Covid causes more turbulence for Pacific Airlines

    Covid causes more turbulence for Pacific Airlines

    The Covid-19 pandemic stopped Pacific Airlines’ recovery and worsened its financial situation, which is “extremely serious,” its parent company, Vietnam Airlines, informed shareholders last week.

    “The shortfall in cash flow and large overdue debts pose the possibilities of insolvency and termination of operations,” the carrier said, adding that it is seeking investors to restructure Pacific.

    In 2018 and 2019, the airlines was on course to recover with profits of VND34.3 billion ($1.48 million) and VND48.6 billion against losses of VND346 billion and VND907 billion the previous two years.

    Its revenues peaked at VND8-9 trillion during the period.

    It posted profits of VND150 billion in January 2020, a monthly record, before Covid-19 hit the aviation industry.

    “If it weren’t for Covid-19, we would have made a big profit,” its chairman and Vietnam Airlines’ deputy director, Trinh Hong Quang, had said in mid-2020.

    That year the budget carrier ended up with a record loss of VND2.14 trillion as revenues plummeted to VND2.6 trillion, a fourth of the previous year’s figure.

    At the end of 2020 it had total assets of over VND6.6 trillion, but its equity had eroded and was in the red.

    In 2021, it lost nearly VND2.31 trillion. Speaking about plans to restructure its subsidiary, Vietnam Airlines said the investor selection process faced legal and other obstacles due to the fact it is a state-owned enterprise.

    If no agreement is reached, its own situation would be at risk, it warned.

    It plans to seek shareholders’ approval to amend a clause in its charter to allow sale of its equity to third parties at the upcoming annual general meeting.

    Pacific Airlines was founded over 30 years ago after authorities approved foreign investment in the aviation industry. As a budget airline, it was expected to increase Vietnam Airlines’ penetration and competitiveness.

    Vietnam Airlines owns 98 percent of the carrier, including 30 percent it got back from Australian airline Qantas in 2020.

  • Pacific Airlines gets new CEO

    Pacific Airlines gets new CEO

    The board of Vietnam Airlines has named a new CEO for subsidiary Pacific Airlines, formerly Jetstar Pacific.

    Dinh Van Tuan, 50, has taken from Nguyen Thuong Hoang Hai, who quit for personal reasons. Tuan was earlier the director of Vietnam Airlines’ operations center, and has served in various capacities at the carrier since 1996.

    Jetstar Pacific became Pacific Airlines on August 1 and got a new logo as Vietnam Airlines, which owns a 68.86 percent stake in it, seeks to buy another 30 percent stake from Australia’s Qantas.

    The first joint-stock airline in Vietnam was set up in 1991. In its 29 years, it has only reported profits for four years. It has major expansion plans, with the current fleet of 18 aircraft set to be increased to 50 by 2025.