Of note, aside from keeping Pacific Airlines’ aviation licence, which requires the airline to have aircraft, it’s not clear why Vietnam Airlines is keeping Pacific Airlines alive. As a budget carrier it made some sense as competition to Vietnam’s biggest budget carrier Vietjet. These recently announced upgrades to Pacific Airlines, however, look to put the carrier in the mid-range segment which would make it direct competition with its parent company…

It’s not exactly clear why airline ticket prices have become such a huge focus in the local media and this could suggest that said coverage is slightly disproportionate to the problem it purports to cover. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the local aviation industry has been having a difficult time of late and this may be simply adding to its woes…

The Vietnam airline industry has been struggling broadly as a result of government regulated ticket prices, increasing fuel costs, and a debt hangover from the COVID-19 pandemic when the industry more-or-less ground to a halt. Bamboo Airways, in particular, only took to the skies in 2019 the year before the pandemic broke out. It also started life as a subsidiary of FLC Group which has been heavily mired in controversy after its leader was arrested back in 2022. This saw the airline spun off but the new independent entity has never had much success and has repeatedly downsized its fleet and the number of routes it offers…

For some context, Pacific Airlines has no planes because it gave them back to its lessor in exchange for having VND 3 trillion or US$118 million worth of debt cancelled. This was months ago and the airline hasn’t run a passenger flight since. With this in mind, it’s difficult to see any organisation other than Vietnam Airlines leasing aircraft to Pacific Airlines moving forward which could limit the airlines growth. 

For context, at the end of last year, the President of Vietnam Airlines noted that overcrowding at Vietnam’s airports was costing the national carrier US$20 million a year. Indeed, overcrowding has become a huge problem–Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City was built for 28 million visitors a year but welcomed 34 million arrivals in 2022. Similarly, Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport was built for 25 million visitors a year but was expected to finish 2023 with 30 million arrivals.

The rising price of airfares in Vietnam has been in the news a lot lately. A review of airline ticket prices by the Vietnam Aviation Administration, however, after conducting a brief investigation, earlier this year, found that airfares prices have been within the current guidelines–in Vietnam airfares are regulated by the government.

Vietnam’s national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, has said that it would prefer to stay at what is currently Ho Chi Minh City’s only international airport, Tan Son Nhat, when a second airport at Long Thanh is completed. It is essentially arguing that airport transfers will be more challenging–currently, it’s possible to

A review of airline ticket prices by the Vietnam Aviation Administration has found that domestic airlines have not breached pricing regulations. The airfare regulator put out the call last week for consumers who felt they had overpaid for airfares. After a brief investigation, however, they have found that airfares prices

Vietnam Airlines recorded a ‘new record’ profit in the first quarter of this year of VND 4.53 trillion or US$178 million. This was, however, only after the company leasing planes to Vietnam Airlines subsidiary, Pacific Airlines, agreed to write-off US$220 million worth of debt in exchange for the return of

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has reached out to consumers who believe they have been overcharged for airfares, VN Economy is reporting. Airfares are regulated in Vietnam with price caps over which ticket prices cannot go. It’s not clear if there has been a breach of these regulations but

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam–the CAAV–is forecasting that Vietnamese airlines could be short up to 26 jets over the summer, VN Express is reporting. This is on the back of maintenance issues with some jet engines. This is impacting airlines all around the world which are scrambling to secure

This analysis of a dispute between foreign aircraft lessor, Fitzwalter Capital Partners, and Vietnam’s Vietjet, in which Vietjet failed to return four planes after a lease agreement was terminated, goes into the legal argument for keeping the aircraft in Vietnam. Specifically, the article states that when the ownership of the

The airline, owned by Vietnam’s national carrier Vietnam Airlines, looks to have returned all of its aircraft though this may have been a repossession. This article in Tuoi Tre is not exactly clear but it does make specific mention of the struggles of Pacific Airlines to pay its debts.  “The

In the week following the Lunar New Year, Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, was welcoming up to 38,000 international arrivals a day, VN Express is reporting. This puts the airport well over its capacity of 10 million arrivals a year or around 27,000 passengers a day.  Ho Chi Minh City’s

One of Vietnam’s biggest airlines, Vietjet, has been ordered by a UK court not to obstruct the repossession of several of its jets by the lessor FW Aviation, Reuters is reporting. This is part of an ongoing dispute between the carrier and lessor FW Aviation–a subsidiary of the UK’s FitzWalter