Vietnam to license first charter airline

According to the Ministry of Transport (MoT), in its first five years of operation the company plans to use three planes, either Boeing737 or Airbus320. Vietstar targets to link North and South Vietnam, as well as operate in the Northeast and Southeast Asia.

Vietstar was established in April 2010 and is a wholly government-owned corporation, a unit of the Ministry of Defence. Headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, with an operational base at Tan Son Nhat international airport, the company provides passenger and cargo charter, pilot training, aircraft maintenance, and aviation fuel supply. Together with civil services, it also transports ammo and makes reconnaissance flights.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), as of the end of the first quarter of 2016 there are eight airlines operating in the country, of which only four provide air transport services. These companies are Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific Airlines, Vietnam Air Services Co. (VASCO), and VietJet. The four other companies provide other air services, such as rescue. They are Blue Sky Air JSC, Hau Au Aviation, Green Planet Airways JSC, and Globaltrans Air.

“CAAV is going to allow the airline to provide domestic and international services,” said CAAV head Lai Xuan Thanh.

Vietnam currently has yet to have an airline specialising in cargo transport. Earlier, in a document sent to CAAV, flag carrier Vietnam Airlines declared that it does not have any plans to invest in cargo-only planes or to establish routes that only serve cargo planes, at least until 2020.

According to CAAV statistics, as of December 31, 2015, 131 planes held the nationality mark of Vietnam, belonging to 10 types and six airlines. Vietnam Airlines had the biggest fleet of 86 aircraft. VietJet ranked second with 25 aircraft, and Jetstar Pacific Airlines ranked third with 11. VASCO, Hai Au Aviation, and Green Planet each has two or three aircraft.