Amidst the pandemic situation, major tour Vietravel company received its license to operate as one of the airlines in Vietnam and will soon take its maiden flight in December.
According to Nguyen Quoc Ky, chairman and founder of Vietravel at an aviation business forum arranged by Forbes Vietnam, should there be no hiccups along the way, the airline is set to fly on the 18th of December instead of the original plan which is in 2021.
Joining the competition with the already established 6 other airlines: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Jetstar Pacific, Bamboo Airways, VASCO and the newly-created military-owned Vietstar Airlines.
The Vietravel was forced to change its course strategy as it was forced to its limit during the travel and aviation industry’s battle against the pandemic – it is now focused on the domestic market, Mr. Ky said.
In addition he said the airline will fly domestics first, potentially targeting 100 million population in Vietnam as it is not a small market indeed. July domestic travel revenue has proved to be much higher prior to the pandemic. However, the number of passengers have plummeted in all of the company’s three main segments – inbound, outbound and domestic.
Hence, the company’s numbers were down to 70% in the first 9 months of this year, garnering 20-22% of last year.
Ky also said that he thinks the market situation especially in the tourism industry will remain challenging until 2022 wherein international aviation travel will most likely resume next year.
Vietravel airlines will be housed in Phu Bai International Airport located at the central province of Thua Thien-Hue and hopes to potentially carry a million of passengers during their first year.
The COVID-19 outbreak has immensely impacted the travel and tourism industries all over the world – pushing businesses to their edges as travel restrictions and flight cancellation has limited travellers – these industry’s main source of revenue.
