Nok Air flies into crowded Vietnamese skies
BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA

The no-frills carrier Nok Air is preparing to join the fray on Thailand-Vietnam air routes where traffic is being spurred by fast-growing business and tourist travel.


Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarasin recently visited Vietnam, where Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Nok appeared to be receptive to the airline's request for traffic rights to serve Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from Bangkok.


Vietnam has yet to adopt an open-skies policy and only grants traffic rights to foreign carriers on a case-by-case basis.


Nok Air plans to offer two scheduled daily flights each on the Bangkok-Hanoi and Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City sectors using Boeing 737-400 jetliners, most likely starting in the last quarter of this year, according to Mr Patee.

The budget carrier, partly owned by Thai Airways International, is preparing a formal proposal and will send a team to Vietnam to finalise details after the Songkran holidays.


Nok Air will become the latest Bangkok-based carrier to compete in Thailand-Vietnam air traffic that is growing through expanding bilateral trade, rising Thai investment flows to Vietnam and increasing tourism.


On March 2, Bangkok Airways inaugurated its Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh service with three weekly flights on board a 120-seat Boeing 717-200.


Bangkok Airways is operating the route in co-operation with Pacific Airlines, Vietnam's domestic airline, which is being turned into a low-cost carrier.


Thai Airways International has been operating to the two main Vietnamese cities from Bangkok, while privately owned PB Air is providing three flights a week on the Bankok-Danang route, using Brazilian-made Embraer 145 LR jets with 50 seats.


The low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia has also been offering regular flights to Hanoi from Bangkok and will soon add Ho Chi Minh City as its second stop in Vietnam.


Other non-Thai carriers operating on the Thailand-Vietnam routes are Air France and Vietnam Airlines. All told, 30 international airlines now operate in Vietnam.


Mr Patee is upbeat about the budget carrier traffic to Vietnam. He said that Vietnam's growing economy and its population base of 85 million offered significant potential for a market that is embracing the low-cost carrier model.

500,000 free tickets to Asia
09:37' 18/04/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - As of April 17 to 20, AirAsia budget airline will issue 500,000 free tickets for flights from October 1, 2007 to March 29, 2008 for all of its air routes in Asia.

Passengers can only book free tickets on AirAsia’s official website and pay by Visa or Master cards. According to AirAsia, passengers can successfully book tickets from 1-7h.

However, passengers still have to pay taxes and surcharges depending on each airport. For the Hanoi - Bangkok, passengers will have to pay up to US$72 only and $70 for Hanoi - Kuala Lumpur.

This carrier currently has around 70 air routes to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, China and Macau.

Passengers in Hanoi can book free tickets to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, and fly to other places of AirAsia at the price of zero if they select right days and right air routes.

http://www.airasia.com/ (http://www.airasia.com/)



(Source: VNE)

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/travel/2007/04/686066/

Thanh Nien News | Business | Qantas picks up 30 pct in Vietnam carrier

Qantas picks up 30 pct in Vietnam carrier

Australia’s carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. has bought a 30 percent stake in Vietnam’s Pacific Airlines for US$50 million.
Under a deal inked Thursday between Qantas and the State Capital Investment Corp (SCIC) – the government arm set up to reallocate funds for reorganized state firms which hold a 92.5 percent stake in Pacific – Qantas will become a strategic investor in the budget carrier.

The SCIC will retain 62.5 percent of the stake, with the remaining held by Saigontourist.

The acquisition will make Qantas the first foreign operator to be involved in Vietnam’s air sector.

Peter Gregg, Qantas’s Chief Financial Officer, said the carrier would be directly involved in the management of Pacific Airlines by having a representative on its board.

He said the deal was important for Qantas to support its low-cost affiliate, Jestar, which flies to many Southeast Asian destinations.

Le Thi Bang Tam, chairwoman of the SCIC, said Qantas was chosen as a strategic investor for its strong financial capacity and experience in operating budget services.

Qantas has a fleet of 200 airplanes and flies to 93 international destinations in addition to Australian routes.

Pacific Airlines was earlier controlled by Vietnam Airlines and then by the Ministry of Finance before being transferred to the SCIC. It flies on some domestic sectors and to Taiwan.

It held talks earlier with the Singapore government's investment arm, Temasek Holdings, and Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia, in a bid to bring in foreign investors but to no avail.

Reported by Manh Quan – Compiled by Dong Ha


Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 27 April, 2007, 11:26:39 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News

Scott Rochfort
April 27, 2007

QANTAS has taken its second major gamble on Asia's booming low-cost aviation market, paying $60 million for a 30 per cent stake in Vietnam's second-largest carrier, Pacific Airlines.

Despite the national carrier's three-year-old Jetstar Asia franchise in Singapore still bleeding cash, Qantas's chief financial officer, Peter Gregg, said Pacific Airlines was an "important investment" that would help Jetstar extend its reach into South-East Asia.

"Vietnam offers great growth potential for aviation," Mr Gregg said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

Unlike the loss-making Jetstar Asia, Pacific Airlines has a domestic market to leverage off and does not rely on the permission of foreign governments to fly on all of its routes.

Jetstar Asia says its problems lie in its inability to gain permission to fly key routes from Singapore into China and Indonesia.

Pacific Airlines already appears to have taken a cue from Jetstar by adopting the "everyday low fare" slogan used by the Qantas budget offshoot.

But three months since details of Qantas's potential investment in the state-owned airline were revealed in the Herald, some remain sceptical of Qantas's ability to turn around the undercapitalised and loss-making Pacific Airlines.

Both the Singapore Government's investment company, Temasek, and Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia backed out of talks to buy a stake in the airline.

Despite Qantas's losses in the Asian airline market, there are hopes the company could still be on track for a fourth profit upgrade after Sydney Airport released a 10 per cent surge in third quarter revenues, thanks to record domestic and international passenger numbers.

Meanwhile, there is pressure on the Federal Government to make public the details of a confidential report that argued for Middle Eastern airlines to be granted more access into Australia.

It warned that "a slowing in the pace of liberalisation" of international air routes into Australia could hurt the economy.

Qantas and the Department of Transport are said to be against the report being made public. It has been suggested it could trigger a review into the highly profitable and Qantas-dominated Australia-US route.

The Access Economics report played an integral part in the Federal Transport Minister, Mark Vaile, granting Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways greater access into Australia last month.

Tourism industry representatives are expected to call for details of the study to be made public at a meeting of the National Tourism and Aviation Advisory Committee in Canberra today.

Qantas's head of government relations, David Hawes, who has denied claims the carrier attempted to block the commissioning of the study, said he was yet to see the report.

Mr Hawes said he was not convinced about the merits of economic modelling. "We thought that the reliance on modelling has not made a particularly good [contribution] to the debate on the Pacific route," he said.

Airlines to add seats on Vietnam flights

More foreign airlines are adding capacity to and from Vietnam.

Thai Airways announced it would add one flight on its Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City schedule from October, bringing the total number of flights to the city to 17 and to Vietnam to 31.

Nond Kalinta, general manager of the carrier in Vietnam, said the carrier was optimistic about growth in both the inbound and outbound sectors.

He said Thai was “looking for a year-on-year increase of 15 percent in seat occupancy in Vietnam this year”, adding that air traffic in Vietnam would see “sharp growth” this year.

AirAsia is also preparing to launch a Kuala Lumpur--Ho Chi Minh City service this year to meet the growing demand after the success of its Kuala Lumpur--Hanoi and Bangkok--Hanoi daily services.

In response, Malaysia Airlines said it would increase capacity on its routes, utilizing bigger aircraft on its existing services from Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, totaling 23 flights per week.

Its general manager, Terence Krish Swampillai, said it would adopt changes when the market was ready.

“The market is big enough for Malaysia Airlines and we are looking at increasing our capacity,” he said.

Booking agents are expecting air traffic to grow 30 per cent this year on top of the more than 12 million air passengers flying into and within Vietnam in 2006.

“Now is the time for more airlines to join the market, especially after the new terminal was opened at [HCMC’s] Tan Son Nhat airport,” Kalinta said.

Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines are among the foreign airlines that will move their check-in counters to the new terminal at the end of the month, a week after its soft opening.

Source: E-travel


Story from Thanh Nien News

Two Vietnam airports get facelift, international status

The Vietnamese government has upgraded two airports in the central region to international status following a major revamp.
Cam Ranh near the tourist resort of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa province, and Phu Bai in Thua Thien – Hue province join four others in major towns with the same status.

Cam Ranh is expected to welcome 1 million passengers a year by 2010.

Phu Bai, 15km from Hue city, welcomed nearly 430,000 passengers in 2006.

Source : Tuoi Tre - Translated by Ngoc Anh


Story from Thanh Nien News

AirAsia to set up new budget carrier in Vietnam, posts higher 2007 profit

The Associated Press
Thursday, August 30, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia unveiled plans to set up a new airline in Vietnam as part of its expansion, after earlier reporting a sharp rise in net profit for its 2007 fiscal year.

AirAsia will team up with Vietnam state-owned corporation Shipbuilding Industry Group, or Vinashin, to establish its third affiliate carrier in the region, said its chief executive Tony Fernandes. It already has affiliate carriers in Thailand and Indonesia.

AirAsia, which is Southeast Asia's largest budget carrier by fleet size, will own 30 percent and Vinashin 70 percent in the venture, Fernandes said.

The new airline, which will be named Vina AirAsia, is expected to build a fleet of 9 aircraft over the next two years, Fernandes said. AirAsia plans to set up two more affiliate carriers in the region "in due course," he said, without giving further details.

Vinashin is the largest shipbuilding company in Vietnam and is expanding its operations into other areas, such as financial investment and transportation service, officials said.

http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Kinh-doanh/2007/09/3B9F9DB4/DSC_8417.jpg

http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Kinh-doanh/2007/09/3B9F9DB4/DSC_8236.jpg

http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Kinh-doanh/2007/09/3B9F9DB4/DSC_8297.jpg

http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Kinh-doanh/2007/09/3B9F9DB4/DSC_8649.jpg

Reporters look so unprofessional :nuts:

http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Kinh-doanh/2007/09/3B9F9DB4/DSC_8524.jpg

if we are lucky VN airlines will purchase the a380 around 2010-2012

http://www.saigontimes.com.vn/daily/detail.asp?muc=1&sobao=3017&SoTT=5

Airline industry swoops down for aerial assault

(03-10-2007)


Passengers disembark from a Pacific Airlines jet at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City. Pacific Airlines was Viet Nam’s first low-fare carrier, but more are expected to join the party. — VNS Photo Doan Tung
HA NOI — Since joining the World Trade Organisation, Viet Nam’s market has gained potential and the Vietnamese aviation industry has become a promising market for foreign and domestic investors, said Vo Huy Cuong, an executive member of the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam.

In fact, taking advantage of the flourishing industry, VietJet Joint Stock Company recently submitted an application to establish a new aviation agency. The Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam has confirmed their assessment of the application.

"Vietjet submitted the application on September 17. We are now assessing the application and will submit it to the Minister of Transportation and then send it to the Prime Minister," Cuong said. "It will take us at least two months to assess the application and issue permission," he continued.

After the approval of the application, VietJet will become the fifth airline in Viet Nam alongside Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines, Vasco and Service Aviation Company.

Cuong said that this was the first application they officially accepted. "Saigon Airlines also called us to inquire about the procedures. However, we have not received their application yet," Cuong revealed.

VND200 billion (US$12.5 million) is the minimum amount needed to start an airline which offers only domestic flights. Meanwhile the legal capital needed to exploit foreign routes is VND500 billion ($31 million).

"Decision 76/2007/ND-CP issued in May 2007 clearly regulates procedures needed to establish an aviation agency in Viet Nam," Cuong said.

Recently, many aviation agencies, especially low-cost carriers, have set up camp in Viet Nam offering promotional deals. After two years, AirAsia has established three flights to Bangkok and two flights to Kuala Lumpur departing from Ha Noi every day.

"In the near future, AirAsia hopes to open branches in Da Nang and Hue. Viet Nam’s AirAsia is also scheduled to open soon," said Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia.

Another low-cost carrier from Thailand, NokAir, has decided to open two flights per day Ha Noi to Bangkok starting in November 2007.

NokAir anticipates a loss in the first few months of operations in Viet Nam, said Patee Sarasin, company general director. However, NokAir’s highest prices will still be cheaper than Thai AirAsia’s, he added.

Many budget airlines, such as Tiger Airway, Singapore Airline, Lion Airlines, Thai AirAsia and Nok Air, have added Viet Nam to their list of destinations.

Viet Nam’s transportation market met the requirements for low-cost carriers, and there are many signs that low-cost aviation will boom in the near future, said Lai Xuan Thanh, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam. — VNS

Vina AirAsia can’t get gov’t nod on budget airline
16:58' 23/10/2007 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The information that Vinashin and Air Asia signed a MOU on establishing a joint venture budget airline, Vina AirAsia, several days ago caused a stir among the public. However, in the latest happening, the project has been refused by the government.



Domestic airlines don’t welcome newcomers




Vietnam Airlines is 100% state owned
Some people say that domestic airlines, including Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines, did not ‘play fair’ by lodging a proposal to the government not to licence Vina Air Asia.



The two partners planned to form up a budget airline in Vietnam with the legal capital of $30mil.



It is worthy to note that Air Asia once intended to make investment in Pacific Airlines, but the two sides could not reach an agreement. According to Luong Hoai Nam, Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Airlines, the 30% of capital Air Asia intended to contribute to Pacific Airlines comprised two parts, tangible and intangible, while the intangible assets proved to be very difficult to be valued.



If not counting the intangible assets Air Asia planned to contribute to Pacific Airlines, the price the Malaysian partner planned to pay for Pacific Airlines’ stakes was too low compared to that offered by other foreign investors, including Qantas.



Meanwhile, Qantas demanded that Vietnam would not licence any new airline for three years after the air carrier made investment in Pacific Airlines.



Vietnam Airlines’ Director General and Chairman Nguyen Sy Hung told the press yesterday that the national air carrier protested the joint venture project because “Vietnam should not be so easy on issues relating to commercial freedom.”



Mr Hung said that Vietnam Airlines itself still cannot get the right to fly from Beijing to Moscow though it applied for that a long time ago. The US, the author of the ‘open sky’ policy, does not allow foreign airlines to fly domestic routes due to security problems.



Air Asia to corner domestic aviation market?



Air Asia entered Malaysia in 2001, and the airline began competing fiercely with Malaysia Airlines in 2005, making the domestic airline incur heavy losses of $500mil in the same year, and pushing the airline to the verge of bankruptcy. The government of Malaysia had to restructure Malaysia Airlines and narrow its production scale by cutting 23 international routes (110 to 87).



Meanwhile, in dispatch No 2337 of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam sent to the Ministry of Transport, Deputy Head Luu Thanh Binh suggested that Vietnam prioritise licencing domestic owned airlines, while not allowing foreign invested airlines to set up at this moment.



Experts say that it is necessary to consider thoroughly the possible influences of a new airline on the domestic aviation market.



In another happening, Geoff Dixon, Chief Executive Officer of Australia’s Qantas, said directly to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung that Qantas needed more time to restructure Pacific Airlines.



Duc Hanh

24/10, người phát ngôn của VNA cho biết: ngày 28 và 29.10, chuyến bay đầu tiên xuất phát từ Hà Nội đi Luang Prabang - Siem Reap và từ Hà Nội đi Quảng Châu sẽ bắt đầu.


Mỗi tuần sẽ có 5 chuyến bay xuyên Đông Dương cất cánh lúc 9h từ Hà Nội đến Luang Prabang (Lào) lúc 9h55 và đến Siem Reap (Campuchia) lúc 12h15 và 3 chuyến bay từ Hà Nội đến Quảng Châu cất cánh lúc 17h05, hạ cánh lúc 19h30.

Hai đường bay này chủ yếu phục vụ khách du lịch đến từ Châu Âu và Đông Bắc Á.

(Theo Lao Động)

Runway to airport investment
17:25 02/12/2007
VietNamNet Bridge - Airport network investment opportunities are to gain wings in Vietnam. According to Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), Vietnam needs about $2.84 billion for airport infrastructure up to 2015 with $2.73 billion for developing airports during 2016-2020.


The aviation market has seen explosive growth
Funds will be mobilised from the state budget, official development assistant funds and foreign investment capital.

The Vietnamese Government plans to enhance the nation’s airport capacity by 2.5 times by 2015 and four times by 2020.

During the past decade Vietnam’s aviation market has witnessed rapid growth compared to regional markets. Traffic growth at airports has jumped by an average of 11.4 per cent, 13.7 per cent and 6.9 per cent in terms of passengers, cargo and traffic movements respectively.

United Airlines, Air China, Jestar Airways, Hong Kong Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Tiger Airways and Thai AirAsia have all recently established air routes to Vietnam.

Twenty-four airports are expected to be operational in 2015, including 10 international and 14 domestic airports. International airports such as Hanoi’s Noi Bai, Quang Nam province’s Chu Lai, Khanh Hoa province’s Cam Ranh, Phu Quoc Island’s Duong To and Thua Thien-Hue’s Phu Bai province will be upgraded.
New airports in Dong Nai, Quang Ninh and Cao Bang province will also take shape.

Vu Pham Nguyen Tung, director of CAAV’s Airport Management Department, said all resources would be mobilised to invest into these airports.

“There are many opportunities for foreign investors to invest in Vietnam’s airport network. Foreign investors could invest in these airports under different forms of investment such as BT, BOT and BOO,” said Tung.

Priority will be given to the development of international airports, especially those play a vital role and serve as passenger and cargo hubs such as Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat, Long Thanh and Chu Lai in order to put these centres on an equal footing with other aviation centres in the region.

Tung revealed that CAAV also submitted a proposal to the government which asked for preferential measures and policies aimed at attracting more investment to speed up the Noi Bai, Chu Lai and Long Thanh projects.

(Source: VIR)

..

Filipino low-cost carrier to launch direct flights to Vietnam
17:16' 18/01/2008 (GMT+7)


VietNamNet Bridge - Philippines’ low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific announced yesterday it will officially open new air routes from Manila to Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City from April this year.



Philippine TV channel GMA reported the airline will provide the new services - licensed by the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam (CAAV) early this month - with a special price of 499 pesos (US$12) per single ticket.



It is scheduled to operate three Manila-Ha Noi flights a week starting April 10, and four flights from Manila to Ho Chi Minh City per week from April 11.

Cebu Pacific is interested in opening air routes to Viet Nam because this is among the fastest growing nations in Asia, said Candice Iyog, the airline’s Deputy Marketing Director.



Cebu Pacific hopes to promote trade and tourism between the two countries, she added.



With its new flights, Cebu Pacific is to become the second airlines to connect Viet Nam and the Philippines after the Philippines Airlines.



Of the 44 international airlines in operation in Viet Nam, Tiger Airways (Singapore), AirAsia (Malaysia), Jestar Airways (Australia) and Viva Macau (Macau) are budget carriers.



In other news, Indonesian Lion Air has recently received a license from CAAV to re-open flights between Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City which were closed three years ago.



(Source: SGGP, VTC, TBKTVN)

Wow, i didn't know the Saigon-Manila route has such high turnover rate. Holidays in Boracay next summer, anyone?

Phu Quoc Air project has recently received green-light from the Government to apply for establishment procedures, Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has said.

Although backers of the project were not revealed, Phu Quoc Air was said to be founded by domestic investors and are expected to become the second private air carrier of Vietnam after VietJetAir.

According to Head of CAAV's Aviation Transport Department Vo Huy Cuong, how long the license will be given depends on how soon Phu Quoc Air submits application to CAAV. License will be issued within three months of the application's submission.

In 2007, Vietnam's aviation market served 14 million flights, more than 8 million chose Vietnam Airlines

It's VietNam. What do you expect? That's how the communist train their people. So don't be surprise.


Reporters look so unprofessional :nuts:

http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Kinh-doanh/2007/09/3B9F9DB4/DSC_8524.jpg

^ WTH, why is that unprofessional.

Phu Quoc Air project has recently received green-light from the Government to apply for establishment procedures, Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has said.

Although backers of the project were not revealed, Phu Quoc Air was said to be founded by domestic investors and are expected to become the second private air carrier of Vietnam after VietJetAir.

According to Head of CAAV's Aviation Transport Department Vo Huy Cuong, how long the license will be given depends on how soon Phu Quoc Air submits application to CAAV. License will be issued within three months of the application's submission.

In 2007, Vietnam's aviation market served 14 million flights, more than 8 million chose Vietnam Airlines
Tin tức thì tùm lùm vậy đó chứ tui nghĩ VietJet hay Phu Quoc Air nó sẽ không được phép bước vào kinh doanh ngành hàng không đâu ..nếu được thi nó cũng bị trả cái gía rất đắt

Mấy bác nhà ta nói là cho kinh doanh tư nhân chứ thiệt ra thì chỉ khuyến khích kinh doanh vào những ngành công nghệ cao mà nhà nước không có tâm tư hay nghị lực để làm như ngành sx ô tô, linh kiện điện tử vv . Những ngành sx mang tính chất công nghệ cao mà tư nhân dám làm thì sẽ được ủng hộ ngay chứ còn tư nhân mà muốn lấn vào ăn xén mấy cái ngành làm ăn to tác của quốc doanh thì khó à nghen

Con đường bước vào sx sản phẩm công nghệ cao là một con đường quan rộng thênh thang cho giới tư bản tư nhân VN vì không phải bị một sự cạnh trạnh nào với quốc doanh cả mà còn được ưu đãi nữa ...