Vietnam won’t approve new airlines until 2022
The Vietnam government will suspend the approval of any new startup airline which might be seeking a license until at least 2022 as airlines worldwide try to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. According to VnExpress, the country’s deputy prime minister Trinh Dình Dung made the announcement on July 20.
Dung said no new airlines in Vietnam will be allowed until the aviation industry has fully recovered from the coronavirus crisis. This ruling now confirms what Vietnam’s transport ministry proposed back in May.
The rationale behind the decision was that the existing domestic carriers have suffered heavy losses because of the Covid-19 pandemic and it would take at least two years for the aviation market to recover to 2019 levels. National carrier Vietnam Airlines told has already lost $2.2 billion in revenue this year and will definitely need liquidity support to keep operations afloat.
Vietnam currently has five airlines in operation: Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific, Vietjet Air, Vietnam Air Services Company, or VASCO, and Bamboo Airways, which was the latest to receive an operating license and a flight permit commenced flights in January 2019.
Vietravel Airlines and KiteAir have to wait
Potential new airlines in Vietnam are Vietravel Airlines, owned by the nation’s largest travel agent, which was granted a license before the Covid-19 outbreak but is still awaiting a flight permit. Another new applicant is KiteAir, an airline established by hospitality group Thien Minh.
Foreign competitors face high barriers to entry Vietnam. Among other restrictions, foreign ownership of a domestic airline is capped at 34 per cent. Malaysia’s AirAsia failed five times to set up a Vietnamese division.
Airports across Vietnam served near 116 million passengers last year, with Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air dominating the market with a share of 75 per cent.
The Vietnamese air travel market was growing at a steady 20 per cent over the past five years and looked poised to continue that growth as more people took to the air. Vietnam says that it now has the coronavirus under control and that domestic flights are currently operating at pre-coronavirus levels.
The Vietnam government will suspend the approval of any new startup airline which might be seeking a license until at least 2022 as airlines worldwide try to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. According to VnExpress, the country’s deputy prime minister Trinh Dình Dung made the announcement on July 20. Dung said no new airlines in Vietnam will be allowed until the aviation industry has fully recovered from the coronavirus crisis. This ruling now confirms what Vietnam’s transport ministry proposed back in May. The rationale behind the decision was that the existing domestic carriers have suffered heavy losses because of the...
The Vietnam government will suspend the approval of any new startup airline which might be seeking a license until at least 2022 as airlines worldwide try to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. According to VnExpress, the country’s deputy prime minister Trinh Dình Dung made the announcement on July 20.
Dung said no new airlines in Vietnam will be allowed until the aviation industry has fully recovered from the coronavirus crisis. This ruling now confirms what Vietnam’s transport ministry proposed back in May.
The rationale behind the decision was that the existing domestic carriers have suffered heavy losses because of the Covid-19 pandemic and it would take at least two years for the aviation market to recover to 2019 levels. National carrier Vietnam Airlines told has already lost $2.2 billion in revenue this year and will definitely need liquidity support to keep operations afloat.
Vietnam currently has five airlines in operation: Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific, Vietjet Air, Vietnam Air Services Company, or VASCO, and Bamboo Airways, which was the latest to receive an operating license and a flight permit commenced flights in January 2019.
Vietravel Airlines and KiteAir have to wait
Potential new airlines in Vietnam are Vietravel Airlines, owned by the nation’s largest travel agent, which was granted a license before the Covid-19 outbreak but is still awaiting a flight permit. Another new applicant is KiteAir, an airline established by hospitality group Thien Minh.
Foreign competitors face high barriers to entry Vietnam. Among other restrictions, foreign ownership of a domestic airline is capped at 34 per cent. Malaysia’s AirAsia failed five times to set up a Vietnamese division.
Airports across Vietnam served near 116 million passengers last year, with Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air dominating the market with a share of 75 per cent.
The Vietnamese air travel market was growing at a steady 20 per cent over the past five years and looked poised to continue that growth as more people took to the air. Vietnam says that it now has the coronavirus under control and that domestic flights are currently operating at pre-coronavirus levels.
