Vietnam´s Ministry of Transport has been advised by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) to let airlines expand their fleets in order to meet domestic demand and take advantage of opportunities brought about by the recovering global economy.
According to CAAV, Lunar New Year (Tet), which is the most significant festival in Vietnam, would require additional aircraft. Domestic carriers, comprising Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Pacific Airlines, Bamboo Airways and Viettravel Airlines, are currently operating 225 aircraft, of which 35 are under either maintenance or preservation.
Each aircraft carries an average of 250,000 passengers annually, and since domestic passenger volume is expected to reach 45.5 million in 2023, the domestic market alone needs 182 aircraft. Additionally, it is predicted that Vietnamese carriers require 230 aircraft for international flights in the first few months of 2023, and 250 by the end of the year.
The agency added that since March 2022, when Vietnam fully reopened its doors, the local aviation industry, and particularly the domestic market, has rebooted. In April of the same year the sector even reached pre-pandemic 2019 levels. According to the CAAV, the industry is anticipated to reach complete recovery in the second half of 2023, necessitating airline fleet expansion.
The aviation market recorded about 55 million passengers in 2022, an increase of 3.7 times over the year before. Approximately 1.25 million tons of cargo were transported by air in 2022, representing 95% of that in 2021 and equivalent to the volume in 2019.
(Source: VietNamNet)