VietNamNet Bridge – The economic downturn, which has led to the fewer passengers and turnover decrease, has prompted airlines to charter aircrafts instead of buying new products.

Vietnam Airlines, the national flag air carrier, has been pushing up the chartering of aircrafts recently; the thing which is considered the priority choice for private airlines with small scale.

On the days in late August and early September, two air carriers with the biggest market shares in Vietnam – Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific – continuously received aircrafts.

On August 22 – September 5, VALC, an aircraft chartering company, delivered two Airbus A321-200s to Vietnam Airlines which plans to use the aircrafts for medium distance flights in the region.

In early May 2012, the US Air Lease Corp announced it ordered eight Boeing 787-9s to charter to Vietnam Airlines. Under the contract, the aircraft would be delivered in the years of 2017 and 2018.

In late August, Jetstar Pacific chartered an Airbus 320 to add into its fleet, while one more aircraft is expected to arrive in September. By the end of the year, the budget airline would charter two more.

A senior executive of Jetstar Pacific said in 2011, the airline did not charter aircraft, but it plans to charter four ones this year, a part of the plan to equip the fleet with Airbus 320s.

Le Hong Ha, General Director of Jetstar Pacific, said the plan would help the air carrier cut down operation costs, maintenance expenses, thus allowing it to issue more low cost air tickets to attract more passengers.

Meanwhile, Desmond Lin, Business Development Director of VietJet Air, a private air carrier, has said the airline plans to have some more aircraft, but declined to give further details of the plan.

The executive said that the use of the same kind of aircraft would ensure the stability of the flight schedules, adding that VietJet Air considers expanding the air route network, reaching out to big cities across the country, while preparing for the flights on international routes.

Commenting about the move of airlines recently pushing up the aircraft chartering instead of buying brand new ones, an aviation expert said the moves could be seen as a sign showing that the aviation market has warmed up.

Despite the current big difficulties, airlines still have to prepare to expand the markets. The expert said though the domestic market does not see high growth rates, it is still believed to be a market with great potentials.

He quoted his sources as saying that budget airlines are trying to charter more aircrafts. Air Mekong, which previously focused on exploiting short distance air routes in order to avoid the confrontation with the big guy Vietnam Airlines, is now also considering chartering A320 aircrafts to provide long distance flights.

“All the factors show that airlines have foreseen that the aviation market would bounce back,” he said.

When asked why airlines do not buy brand new aircrafts, but tend to charter aircrafts, the manager of an airline in Vietnam said the decision on buying or chartering aircraft would be made by the airlines depending on their financial assessment. If they charter aircraft, they would have to pay fees monthly, while they would have to pay big sums of money at once if they buy new products.

According to the executive, one cannot say airlines rush to charter aircraft instead of buying them because of the economic crisis. They charter aircraft simply because they think this fits their financial assessments.

Compiled by C. V