Hi everyone! I could see that there would be a lot of news to be updated for this growing market so I have decided to create a whole thread to make everything more convenient

Overall, Vietnam is now one of the healthiest aviation markets on Earth these days due to the rapid recovery of the domestic routes, and the perfect contain coronavirus inside Vietnam.
Unlike the Korean Republic or Thailand, there are not so many carriers in Vietnam so that the market competition is still pretty healthy here. Let's have a look at the major players:

The state-owned Vietnam Airlines Group - consisted of the flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VN), the low-cost subsidiary Pacific Airlines (was known as Jetstar Pacific / Jetstar VN || BL), and the regional operator Vietnam Air Service Company (marketed as VASCO || 0V). This group overall has been dominated the Vietnamese market for decades, however, its individual members couldn't. VN and BL are facing and losing the competition with the private-owned ULCC Vietjet, while VASCO is facing gigantic pressure as its monopolism on the regional market is being risked by Bamboo's new fleet of E195s.


The private-owned carriers in Vietnam are having good business. The ULCC Vietjet Air (VJ) scored no loss in 2020 despite the pandemic, currently owning the biggest market stake in Vietnam (bigger than VN) and definitely winning over the game with its direct rival BL. VJ is having hundreds of A321neo and 737 MAX on order, easy to become the biggest single carrier in terms of fleet size and market share in the country. On the other hand, the "hybrid" (more like full-service) carrier, the newbie Bamboo Airways (QH) is also having a good time, with an ambitious plan with a sizeable fleet, especially with its fleet of 3+1 B789 and ordered 10 of the type.

Not to mention the latest newbie going the debut on the stage, the latest Vietravel Airlines (VU) eyes the charter and the leisure market, with the LCC-similar strategy:

(c) Brian Buckley

There are also a lot of facilities investment around Vietnam, not to mentioning the SGN T3 project and especially, the masterplan of Long Thành International Airport (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1450479):

(c) Hà Nội Mới

(c) PLO

Have fun to discuss everything here

Here is the projected network of Vietnamese airport in 2021-2030-2050:


https://e.vnexpress.net/infographics/ec ... 09345.html

The flag carrier Vietnam Airlines to raise $350mn from shareholders as an bailout.

https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/v ... 38.article

Vietnam Airlines plans to issue D8 trillion ($350 million) worth of ordinary shares for sale to existing shareholders to supplement working capital and pay down debt.

It expects to complete the issuance within the first six months of 2021, after obtaining regulatory approval, according to a 30 December filing to the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange that details a 29 December meeting of shareholders.

The airline says the issuance will increase its charter capital. In a Vietnamese company, charter capital is the amount that shareholders contribute within a prescribed time limit and can be used as working capital, according to management consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates.

Vietnam Airlines reported charter capital of D14.2 trillion in its 2019 annual report.

The funds raised from selling the new shares will be used for working capital requirements, as well as principal and interest payments on debt.

The airline will coordinate with the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), a state-owned investment fund, to complete the issuance.

I have commented in the 2020 thread, but is there a reason why the majority of narrow bodies in Vietnam are of the A321 type as opposed to the A320? VN excluding BL doesn’t have anything smaller and VJ is mostly that as well (and will operate a lot of MAX 10s alongside them too).. At least QH is seeking out new domestic services with smaller jet aircraft. How are load factors to require the larger A321/A21N?

aemoreira1981 wrote:

I have commented in the 2020 thread, but is there a reason why the majority of narrow bodies in Vietnam are of the A321 type as opposed to the A320? VN excluding BL doesn’t have anything smaller and VJ is mostly that as well (and will operate a lot of MAX 10s alongside them too).. At least QH is seeking out new domestic services with smaller jet aircraft. How are load factors to require the larger A321/A21N?

I think that Vietnamese market is so dense that most flights there are at least 190-200 pax.
Before Covid, it is extremely rare to see an A321 operated by VJ or VN had more than 10 empty seats in a flight, whether it is a 180-seat config from VN or 220-240 seats confug by VJ.

Bamboo is expanding its small aircraft fleet just to serve small airports (which can't hold an A320/321) or very niche routes (unserved or heavily served by VN/BL/VJ). However, don't forget that Bamboo is having a MoU for 24 A321neo and it is the only narrowbody type that this carrier has committed to an formal deal. Bamboo's only A319 will leave the fleet in the next few weeks, while the entire fleet of 6 A320ceo will leave the fleet before 2025, I believe that Bamboo will also become a heavy-A321 operator just like VN (68/98), VJ (59/77, plus hundreds of more A321neo and MAX10 on order) and VU (3/3)

Antaras wrote:

aemoreira1981 wrote:

I have commented in the 2020 thread, but is there a reason why the majority of narrow bodies in Vietnam are of the A321 type as opposed to the A320? VN excluding BL doesn’t have anything smaller and VJ is mostly that as well (and will operate a lot of MAX 10s alongside them too).. At least QH is seeking out new domestic services with smaller jet aircraft. How are load factors to require the larger A321/A21N?

I think that Vietnamese market is so dense that most flights there are at least 190-200 pax.
Before Covid, it is extremely rare to see an A321 operated by VJ or VN had more than 10 empty seats in a flight, whether it is a 180-seat config from VN or 220-240 seats confug by VJ.

Bamboo is expanding its small aircraft fleet just to serve small airports (which can't hold an A320/321) or very niche routes (unserved or heavily served by VN/BL/VJ).

Don't forget VASCO (though their fares are pretty expensive).

mxaxai wrote:

Antaras wrote:

aemoreira1981 wrote:

I have commented in the 2020 thread, but is there a reason why the majority of narrow bodies in Vietnam are of the A321 type as opposed to the A320? VN excluding BL doesn’t have anything smaller and VJ is mostly that as well (and will operate a lot of MAX 10s alongside them too).. At least QH is seeking out new domestic services with smaller jet aircraft. How are load factors to require the larger A321/A21N?

I think that Vietnamese market is so dense that most flights there are at least 190-200 pax.
Before Covid, it is extremely rare to see an A321 operated by VJ or VN had more than 10 empty seats in a flight, whether it is a 180-seat config from VN or 220-240 seats confug by VJ.

Bamboo is expanding its small aircraft fleet just to serve small airports (which can't hold an A320/321) or very niche routes (unserved or heavily served by VN/BL/VJ).

Don't forget VASCO (though their fares are pretty expensive).

VASCO is basically Vietnam Airlines but with a different fleet (ATR 72-500) and different brand.

After VN recieves the regional-jet fleet, it may shut down VASCO.

mxaxai wrote:

VASCO (though their fares are pretty expensive).

Yes, VASCO's price is ridiculously expensive due to its monopolism on regional routes to small airport (VCS, VKG, CAH, DIN,...). That is one of the reason why Bamboo has been developing a sizeable fleet of E195: to break VN/VASCO monopolism and to offer to the customer a more reasonable price.

VN/VASCO has to lower the price to survive, or it can even shut down for good, just like I mentioned on the above reply.

CAAV has released the on-time performance figures as well as the number of flights operated by 4 major carriers: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways and Jetstar Pacific Airlines.

Changes in the number of flights as comparisons to last year (before Covid-19):
~ Bamboo: +40.8%
~ Vietnam Airl's: -27.4%
~ Vietjet: -44.3%
~ Jetstar Pacific: -56.9%
~ Average: -33.7%

The Vietnamese aviation industry has seen a tumultuous year in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many flights to be suspended, while others had to operate under strict quarantine procedures.

On the other hand, two major airports – Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat – had to simultaneously close runways for maintenance while natural disasters put the life of Central Vietnam's inhabitants at risk, causing many flight delays. As in March 2020, the total number of flights of the whole industry decreased by 81.3% over the same period.

On-time performance:
~ Bamboo: 95.8%
~ Vietnam Airl's: 92%
~ Pacific: 88.4%
~ Vietjet: 88.1%
~ Average: 90.9%

If late return is the leading culprit of flight delays in 2020 with 59.5 percent of flights delayed, for this reason, the biggest cause of cancellations in the past year was weather conditions, accounting for 16.8 percent of cancellations.

Amid such severe conditions, the efforts to keep the industry’s OTP rate at 90.9 percent, up 4.5 percent compared to 2019, is a bright signal of service improvement by domestic firms.

Look at the figure, we can see a very bright future for our loud-and-rich newbie Bamboo Airways, which has been keeping the highest OTP figures since its launch in early 2019.
Obvious enough, Bamboo is keeping its fantastic data by keeping its fleet under very-low utilizing rate and operating frequency, as from January 2020 until now, Bamboo just received 2 more B787-9 and 5 wet-leased E195, and in fact, Bamboo even returned 3 wet-leased A320s in March, meanwhile, the number of flight is still unbelievably (+41%). However, seems like this is a very nice (and cash-burning) strategy from the "Green team" as it keeps beautiful figures for PR purposes, as well as making maintenance business becomes easier. Besides that, as Bamboo pushed and increased its fleet utilization rate significantly higher than the year before, meanwhile it is still keeping high OTP, that effort is still very impressive for a new carrier.

In conclusion, Bamboo gets all the spotlight, the flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has been performing as well as it supposed to be, meanwhile the two LCCs Vietjet and Pacific are still showing under-average performance and poor figures.

Report: https://www.vir.com.vn/bamboo-airways-a ... 82077.html

What I am quite surprised is that VJ number of flights dropped 44% compared to VN 27%. I thought VN might have more international exposure and would be more impacted.

I see 88% OTP for low-cost airlines is itself a good number since they have much higher utilization rates and VJ, BL use a lot of bus gates in SGN especially. Perhaps no international flights helped reduce congestion in SGN and HAN albeit with only one runway.

potter787 wrote:

What I am quite surprised is that VJ number of flights dropped 44% compared to VN 27%. I thought VN might have more international exposure and would be more impacted.

I see 88% OTP for low-cost airlines is itself a good number since they have much higher utilization rates and VJ, BL use a lot of bus gates in SGN especially. Perhaps no international flights helped reduce congestion in SGN and HAN albeit with only one runway.

VN was given more slots than VJ to operate when Vietnam was under lock-down in the last summer. Besides that, in fact, VN is still keeping most of its international schedules, and the only difference is that the pax were replaced by cargo. VJ, meanwhile, canceled the entire international operation and it only maintained a quite small number of cargo flights. That is why VN was less affected than VJ in terms of the number of operated flights.
Meanwhile, in terms of profitability, VJ is obviously doing better than VN when VN lost multiple milliona $, why VJ incredibly reached the break-even point.

(Meanwhile, QH's growth is pretty mysterious and unbelievable)

https://simpleflying.com/vietjet-no-losses-layoffs/
VJ seems proud as it didn't make a loss or lay-off in 2020:

We are proud that we have gone through 2020’s pandemic with positive financial results. We didn’t make losses and made a little profit in 2020. Compare to other airlines in the world, and other airlines in Vietnam, we are one of the very few airlines with positive consolidated financial results in 2020

However, it also doesn't forget to ask for a bailout package from the government

Although VietJet has not had any direct support from the Vietnamese government, it has availed of some of the other measures extended to airlines during 2020. These have included reduced fees and taxes, as well as the ability to defer tax payments. Nevertheless, the CEO believes that there is still an opportunity to receive support from the government.

She noted that flag carrying competitor Vietnam Airlines had received a sizeable bailout by the government. Further, she noted that thanks to its success, VietJet’s tax payments are usually around two-thirds of the amount Vietnam Airlines received. VJ's CEO noted that applications were still under consideration and commented,

Vietravel (VU) is gonna receive its second A321-211WL airframe.
However, surprisingly, it is not OE-IDQ (MSN 6979) that we have been waiting for. In fact, the second airframe has the temporary reg 2-RBRL, MSN 6168, with Minsheng Financial Leasing being the owner of this 6.6-year-old airframe. Even more interesting, planespotters.net listed this as a future-Vietjet airframe, hinting that VJ may wet-lease this airframe to VU, and it is not impossible as VU had negotiated with VJ to wet-lease some airframes to overcome the fleet-size limit of 3 airframes in the first year of operation.
The picture uploaded on the database shows that it is just a normal Vietravel aircraft, without permanent VN-* reg and the Vietnam flag covered by a sticker. Visually there is also no sign that this airframe is leased or operated by VJ.

This is a very interesting partnership, as VJ and VU are opponents, and competitors inside Vietnam rarely partner with each other. As I mentioned, it is not big because VU said it had negotiated with both VN and VJ for wet-leasing deals, but it is still interesting to see how this kind of team-up works.

Second A321ceo for our newbie VU. Temporary reg. 2-RLBL, to be reregistered VN-A289, msn 6168. Owned and dry-leased from Minsheng Financial.
Ferried WOE-TZX-NAG-SGN a few hours ago, will sit at SGN for a few days for reregistration and maintenance before enters service.
Unlike the previous post, I can confirm that this airframe has nothing related to VJ. It might be just a false report from planespotters.net (the website has fixed the info)

https://www.facebook.com/VietravelAirli ... 0099231822

Besides that, VU also announced that it will sell tickets for its scheduled service by the first time on 19th January, on its official website https://vietravelairlines.vn/. Can't wait

Vietnamese authorities asked carriers to not let any airframe to be grounded for more than 1 month, except for maintenance purposes.
https://vietnamfinance.vn/cuc-hang-khon ... 248514.htm

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has just issued a directive on enhancing safety measures in the process of flight-stopping preservation.

According to CAAV, the Covid-19 epidemic continued to develop complicatedly, affecting the operation of aircraft operation and maintenance, the number of aircraft preserved and stopped flying continued to rise. Therefore, in order to minimize the risks caused by the maintenance of flight stops, CAAV requires airlines to rotate aircraft to ensure that the maintenance does not exceed 1 month.

In the case of aircraft undergoing maintenance and stopping for more than 1 month due to malfunction, breakdown, insufficient configuration ... CAAV requires airlines to report and obtain approval from the Authorities (except in the case of aircraft performing periodic maintenance).

Vietravel Airlines to launch its first commercial scheduled service on 25th January 2021:
https://vnexpress.net/vietravel-airline ... 22900.html

CEO Vu Duc Bien said that Vietravel Airlines plans to have its first commercial flight on January 25.

According to Mr. Bien, this newbie has completed the preparation and open sales of commercial flights from January 19. Its flight network is on the North-South axis, the destination is 6 major cities including Hanoi [HAN], Ho Chi Minh City [SGN], Da Nang [DAD], Hue [HUI], Phu Quoc [PQC], and Nha Trang [CXR] with a frequency of 1-2 flights per day. The airline will open to sell 50,000 tickets 0 VND for these flights from tomorrow.

Vietravel Airlines has just welcomed the second A321ceo aircraft, reg. 2-RLBL (to be re-registered VN-A289). The airline's third aircraft is expected to return to Vietnam on January 21.

"Owning 3 aircraft in the period before the Lunar New Year will help Vietravel Airlines increase its transport capacity, expand its network, increase the number and frequency of flights to provide passengers with a variety of options", CEO of Vietravel Airlines said.

Seems like Vietravel (VU) is aiming at cargo operation, by this illustration of the B733F

https://gsa.worldtrans.vn/Freighter.htm ... gw2jUSOIPY

The annual financial reports showing the contrast pictures from the 2 biggest player in Vietnam: VN and VJ.
While VJ had good business and had a profit of $3 million (revenue dow, the state-owned flag carrier VN lost more than $481 million and saved by the state bailout package.
https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/v ... 21.article
https://vnexplorer.net/covid-19-costs-v ... 17302.html

The financial numbers showed that VJ is more nimble and better deal with shock like pandemic compared to state-owned enterprise like VN. It is worth to note that both VJ and VN make a loss from operation even though VJ's loss is significantly smaller. The reason why VJ is in black is thank to other income, which I presume is sale and leaseback transactions.

Bamboo becomes the next one to reveal its financial report. The carrier has a profit of Đ400bil or ~$17.4million.
https://vnexpress.net/bamboo-airways-la ... 34414.html

Bamboo Airways said it recorded a pre-tax profit of 400 billion VNĐ, became one of the few airlines in the world that had profits in the pandemic year.

This information has just been distributed by FLC Group today (February 10). Bamboo Airways said that its pre-tax profit in 2020 increased 34% compared to 2019, to 400 billion VND.

According to a representative of Bamboo Airways, thanks to the Government's drastic and effective anti-epidemic policy, in 2020, Bamboo Airways actively innovated and promptly implemented synchronous solutions to overcome difficulties.

Obviously, private-owned carriers have much better responses to the pandemic than the state-owned Vietnam Airlines.

MrHMSH wrote:

Good to see QH posting some positive numbers, and so soon after starting as well which is excellent going in the circumstances. I had my first flight with them last Saturday, though it was only a very short hop from SGN to PQC I was very impressed with the comfort and design of the seats on their A321neo, plus the legroom is more than good enough for a short/medium haul flight. No time for any food service so I can't judge on that, but if QH are in it for the long haul I look forward to their expansion plans, always good to have another competitor within and going out of Vietnam.

I agree. QH provides very good service, good enough for you to hardly find any mistake to give this new carrier a negative criticism.
From this, I believe that VN is facing serious competition from QH right in Vietnam, which is good because tough competition will encourage development

As a resident of Vietnam, I have flown with VietJet, Bamboo and Vietnam.

I will not fly VietJet again due to the cramped planes, and the frequent delays.

A friend of mine is a pilot for VietJet and is offered so little flying time that he and his family are seriously considering returning to there home country. His children are reluctant though, and so far he is managing on the less than 50% flying time offered now to that of 2 years ago.

I am also hesitant to fly Bamboo again, due to there unbelievably poor ground services. Pretty good on board though. Never been able to find anything wrong with the on board service Amazing Airline lounge in Hanoi, which in my view offers the best service in the world. General ground services are very poor though. Also subject to frequent delays.

I've therefore been flying Vietnam Airlines, and frequently enough to become a Gold Elite Frequent Flyer. They have yet to offer me really poor Ground Service. Some flight crew can be very poor though, but mainly they are adequate. I've never flown with JetstarPacific/Pacific, despite my ex boyfriend being a flight attendent for them. He has been essentially furloughed for so long he is seeking permanent alternative employment.

Price wise, 15% of my flights have been booked on the lowest fare, which was always Vietnam Airlines. I now purchase a slightly higher fare which is more beneficial to me.

I would therefore recommend that you fly Vietnam Airlines for reliable service.

On all these carriers it is very rare to see less than completely full planes.

Has any information come out about Bamboos shareholding after the reported 49% sale, with FLC Group reporting in 2020 that it only controlled 51%?

moa999 wrote:

Has any information come out about Bamboos shareholding after the reported 49% sale, with FLC Group reporting in 2020 that it only controlled 51%?

49% are owned by some key individuals from the FLC Group such as Trịnh Văn Quyết - the CEO - with some other co-founders and bosses of FLC/Bamboo.
Technically, FLC and its people are still keeping most of Bamboo stakes.

CrisL wrote:

As a resident of Vietnam, I have flown with VietJet, Bamboo and Vietnam.

I will not fly VietJet again due to the cramped planes, and the frequent delays.

A friend of mine is a pilot for VietJet and is offered so little flying time that he and his family are seriously considering returning to there home country. His children are reluctant though, and so far he is managing on the less than 50% flying time offered now to that of 2 years ago.

I am also hesitant to fly Bamboo again, due to there unbelievably poor ground services. Pretty good on board though. Never been able to find anything wrong with the on board service Amazing Airline lounge in Hanoi, which in my view offers the best service in the world. General ground services are very poor though. Also subject to frequent delays.

I've therefore been flying Vietnam Airlines, and frequently enough to become a Gold Elite Frequent Flyer. They have yet to offer me really poor Ground Service. Some flight crew can be very poor though, but mainly they are adequate. I've never flown with JetstarPacific/Pacific, despite my ex boyfriend being a flight attendent for them. He has been essentially furloughed for so long he is seeking permanent alternative employment.

Price wise, 15% of my flights have been booked on the lowest fare, which was always Vietnam Airlines. I now purchase a slightly higher fare which is more beneficial to me.

I would therefore recommend that you fly Vietnam Airlines for reliable service.

On all these carriers it is very rare to see less than completely full planes.

- There's no doubt that VJ always provides poor onboard service. Delay is also becoming its second brand name. Besides that, I heard that VJ is facing a surplus of pilots, so it is not a good destination for career and employment at this moment.
- Yes, it is hard to criticize QH onboard service. The ground-service was initially bad, but I see that QH is improving and providing acceptable service. You may fly with them again. Remember that QH is just a 2-year-old carrier, it needs time to have lessons and provide as-perfect-as-possible services to its customers. On the other han, QH is the most on-time carrier in Vietnam, so I can say that you were a bit unlucky when your QH flight was delayed.
- VN may be one of the most "perfect" carriers in Vietnam when providing awesome service, high OTP, and shiny aircraft. Definitely one of a fine and safe choice in Vietnam.
- If you criticized VJ, I believe that you would hardly be happy with Pacific (BL). Relatively new airframes with the scrappy interior, the services are rarely better than VJ. In other words, try to avoid any LCC in Vietnam

Fresh money for our great newbie Bamboo Airways. Its parents company FLC Group just announced that it will invest VNĐ 3.5 trillion (nearly $152million) into Bamboo, eventually, raise QH's charter capital by a half from VNĐ 7 trillion to VNĐ 10.5 trillion.
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/c ... 38840.html

Bamboo Airways has increased its charter capital by half to VNĐ 10.5 trillion ($458 million), its fifth hike in less than four years since establishment.
The airline, in which conglomerate FLC owns a 51.29% stake, posted a pre-tax profit of over VNĐ 400 billion last year, up 34% from 2019.

This is FLC's fifth investment in QH since its establishment. Initially, Bamboo launched with VNĐ 700 billion (just $30.4mil) of charter capital in its pocket. Now, its charter capital is VNĐ 10.5 trillion (nearly $458bn). Obviously, despite the coronavirus pandemic, FLC has high expectations on this carrier.

Construction of the newest airport for Vietnam, the Phan Thiết Airport, will be started this month.
https://vnexpress.net/san-bay-phan-thie ... 44197.html

Senior Lieutenant General Tran Don, Deputy Minister of National Defense, said Phan Thiết airport will begin construction at the end of March, completed in 2022.

gcmap.com

This airport will serve Vietnam's hottest travel destination, the Phan Thiết beach city, as well as the whole province of Bình Thuận. The area is known for a beautiful beach, great sand dunes, and beautiful landscape, and is one of the Russian, as well as many Western travelers, favorite tropical destinations in Vietnam as well as the whole of Southeast Asia. Besides that, this would be a secondary airport to support the role of the current Tân Sơn Nhất Airport (SGN) as well as the future Long Thành Int'l Airport.