VietNamNet Bridge – Jetstar Pacific, Vietjet Air and Vietnam Airlines all have been moving ahead with their plans to buy more aircraft to expand the fleets. Meanwhile, parking lots have become overloaded.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), Vietnam experienced a hot development year 2013 with the growth rate of 6.7 percent. Reuters has predicted that the Vietnamese fleet may be double or triple in the next some years.

Rushing to buy aircraft

The national air flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is believed to have the largest fleet with over 70 aircrafts. However, Vietjet Air has been mentioned more recently with its ambitious plan to buy 100 aircrafts in the time to come.

Analysts regard the Vietjet Air’s 100 aircraft purchase plan with suspicion. They believe that the fledgling airline is not financially capable enough to pay $9 billion for the 100 aircraft. However, instead of explaining, Vietjet Air has announced the VND120 billion profit after seven months of operation.

Vietjet Air has also announced the signing of the financial agreements with international banks on the aircraft purchase funding. Most recently, Vietjet Air has signed an agreement with French BNP Paribas on a loan which allows the airline to receive the first aircraft in 2014.

Prior to that, an agreement had been signed between Vietjet Air and a Chinese bank.

The budget airline Jetstar Pacific has announced that 2014 would be an important hallmark in its development history, when it would kick off the plan on developing the Airbus A320 fleet.

In 2013, Jetstar Pacific served 2 million passengers with the aircraft use efficiency up by 37 percent and the seat occupancy rate of over 90 percent, the ideal rates for any airlines in the world.

Jetstar Pacific plans to receive five more aircraft in 2014, by that time it would have 11 aircraft to be in service.

Analysts said airlines are taking wise moves to expand their fleets. It is expected that 2014 would be a prosperous year for the aviation sector.

Where to park aircraft?

However, the analysts have pointed out that while the number of aircraft has been increasing rapidly, the infrastructure has not developed proportionally.

Dang Tuan Tu, Director of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, has noted that airlines have been continuously expanding their fleets, while the parking lot at the Tan Son Nhat airport is limited.

“There are only 42 parking seats at Tan Son Nhat. Therefore, I strongly recommend to park in neighboring airports instead of Tan Son Nhat,” he said.

“Airlines can carry passengers to HCM City, but they should not park here overnight,” he said.

However, Le Hong Ha, CEO of Jetstar Pacific, said this is not a feasible solution, because it would be very costly to move aircraft to other airports. It would be better to encourage airlines to open the air routes to the neighboring localities.

The representative from Vietjet Air also said it would not be economical to park aircraft in nearby localities and then fly to HCM City to take passengers.

Analysts believe that the best solution to settle the problem is building another airport. The Long Thanh Airport project has been put on the table. However, it is unclear if the project is implemented, because it remains uncontroversial.

K. Chi