Profits soar for Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines saw a 62 per cent rise in profits in 2013Photo: Le Toan

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is the only one of the country’s existing four air carriers to have announced its 2013 business results so far, and despite the tough business climate and limited airport infrastructure, the national airline fared fairly well.

Vietnam Airlines reported a 62 per cent increase in profits, totalling VND140 billion ($6.6 million), this was despite revenue standing at VND54.1 trillion ($2.5 billion) tantamount to 98 per cent of the company’s set target.

In its core field of transport services, the airline saw marked improvements, handling 14.71 million passengers, including 8.77 million local travellers, up 17 per cent.

“The efficient use of our resources reflected significant improvements, with passenger numbers up 5.9 per cent and seat occupancy rates 2.8 per cent higher than planned,” said Vietnam Airlines’ chairman Pham Viet Thanh.

Thanh said with a seat occupancy rate surpassing 81 per cent on inland routes, Vietnam Airlines had steadily developed in the recent years. With a near 50 per cent share of the passenger market on international and local routes, Vietnam Airlines’ business indices were an important gauge of the Vietnamese aviation market’s performance in 2013. 

Statistics by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) showed that Vietnamese air carriers transported an estimated 29.5 million passengers and 630,000 tonnes of freight last year, representing a 16.7 per cent and 19.6 per cent on-year increase, respectively. A total of 14.5 million passengers flew on domestic routes, a 19.3 per cent leap against 2012.

According to Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang, last year had been a good year for the domestic sector. The minister cited private budget carrier VietJetAir’s announcement in the third quarter that the firm was already profitable.

CAAV forecast the domestic aviation market would grow at a double digit rate this year thanks to a rosier global economic outlook and Vietnam’s greater attraction as a tourism destination.

Thanh added that market competition had ramped up as low-cost VietJetAir was trying to garner a bigger market share via route and cabin crew expansion.