VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam Airlines Corp. has estimated its 2010 revenue will surpass VND36.2 trillion (US$1.86 billion), a whopping increase of 47.3% from last year, and pre-tax profit will exceed VND350 billion (US$18 million), up 130% year-on-year.

The State-owned corporation released the figures at a ceremony organized at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Thursday to welcome the 12 millionth passenger. The special guest is Yugo Satomi on Flight VN220 departing from HCMC and landing at the airport in the capital city at around 3 p.m.

The Japanese passenger was given a pair of Business-class tickets for a Vietnam Airlines flight to any international destination the carrier flies to. The airline also presented two Economy-class tickets to each of the 12,000,001th and 11,999,999th passengers on the same flight.

Pham Ngoc Minh, chief executive officer of Vietnam Airlines Corp., told the welcoming ceremony that the 12 millionth passenger was a milestone in the airline’s business strategy in 2010 and credited this big success to effective measures it had taken to improve performance this year.

According to the airline, the number of passengers on its domestic and international flights this year is forecast to surge 33.7% to 12.3 million passengers this year. Of them, local passengers will account for eight million, up 31.1% from 2009, and the guests on its international services will increase 37.6% to 4.3 million.

Vietnam Airlines said the number of its flights in all of 2010 was predicted to total more than 88,000, with average seat occupancy of 77.1%, up 3.6 percentage points compared to 2009. The national flag carrier will transport 166,300 tons of cargo throughout this year as it became a full member of the global airline alliance SkyTeam, a year-on-year rise of 43.9%.

Minh said the airline opened seven international air routes and four domestic routes as well as increased frequencies in both segments, bringing the number of its total daily flights to 320 at the moment from the previous 225.

The airline has replaced all ATR72-200s with ATR72-500s and received more modern planes to expand its fleet to around 70 at present.

Next year will be an important year and the beginning of a five-year development plan for Vietnam Airlines. Minh said the corporation would continue heavy investment in both soft and hard infrastructure development, including a fleet and flight network expansion and a service improvement to gradually become one of the leading airlines in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam Airlines is looking to more than 14 million in 2011, up 20% year-on-year and 193,000 tons of cargo, an increase of 16% over this year. The corporation expects to post revenue of 45.5 trillion (over US$2.3 billion) next year and run at a profit.

Source: SGT