During the period, the airline transported 12.5 million passengers and gained a revenue of 52.5 trillion VND (about 2.38 billion USD) with a gross profit of over 1.3 trillion VND (59 million USD), surpassing the year’s plan.

The company is set to carry about 16.7 million passengers this year.

According to the airline’s report, domestic and international flights grew with highlighted air routes to or from Northeast Asia and popular domestic and tourism destinations.

The delivery of the new Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-9 planes were highly appreciated by clients.

The airline’s service quality has improved significantly, especially when the company deployed services with four-star standards.

From January-September, Vietnam Airlines received a number of domestic and international prizes.

The airline was listed among the top 10 Most Improved Airlines by the UK-based airline review organisation Skytrax and received a best services award at Incheon International Airport in the Republic of Korea.

It also tops the list of enterprises ready for technology development and application in 2015, according to the Vietnam ICT Index.

VNA's nine-month profits reach $58m

National carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) earned nearly VND52.5 trillion (US$2.36 billion) in syndicated revenue in the first nine months of this year, a press release issued late last week said.

The release did not show the year-on-year comparison, but said the firm's syndicated profit of more than VND1.3 trillion ($58.42 million) had exceeded its target.

About 100,000 flights were operated in the first nine months, nearly 5 per cent higher than the same period last year.

The VNA said that several policies issued since the middle of the year had contributed to the rise in the number of international visitors to Viet Nam, especially the visa exemption norms for tourists from five western European countries that came into effect in July, leading to expectations of a 50 per cent rise in the number of arrivals from such countries in the next three years.

The airline carried more than 12.5 million passengers between January and the end of September this year. The international and domestic routes have been showing good growth, especially the route between Viet Nam and the northeast Asian region.

In the first half of the year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals fell 12 per cent, compared with last year. But between July and September, foreign tourist arrivals in Viet Nam increased, with the number reaching 626,000 in September, an 8.3 per cent increase over last year.

However, the VNA has been facing several difficulties and challenges due to complicated economic and political situations across the world, with the volume of visitors from key markets such as Europe decreasing, and the Japanese yen, South Korea's won and the Australian dollar falling due to devaluation.

The carrier aims to carry 16.7 million passengers this year and will continue its restructuring programme to reduce the number of employees to 6,500 by 2016. 

VNA/VNS