Flying Bamboo: New airline set to join Vietnam’s congested airways
hanoi — Vietnam’s skies are about to get more crowded.
With state-owned Vietnam Airlines and budget carrier VietJet Aviation serving one of the world’s busiest routes, property developer FLC Group wants a piece of the action with a new airline, operating 37 routes in the country after its inaugural flight in October.
Called Bamboo Airways, the new airline still needs a government aviation licence before operating and is seeking to capitalise on the nation’s growing middle class and rapidly-expanding tourism industry.
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) forecasts Vietnam will be among the world’s top five fastest-growing air travel markets in the next 20 years. The route between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is already the world’s sixthbusiest in terms of passenger numbers last year, according to the Iata. The aviation industry handled 23.6 million passengers during the first half of the year, a 15 per cent increase from the same period last year, according to Hanoi’s General Statistics Office.
“With a good investment, wellprepared staff and new aircraft, we will become a giant right after we launch the airline,” chairman Trinh Van Quyet said in an interview in his Hanoi office. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said the company has met “sufficient conditions” required to be able to fly in October and the flight license is forthcoming, he added.
Shares of FLC surged as much as 2.5 per cent in Wednesday trading while the benchmark VN Index was little changed. Stock rose 0.9 percent as of 10:05am local time, poised for highest level since January.
Bamboo Airways’ proposal is being reviewed, according to a transport ministry official. Still, the startup airline may struggle to crack Vietnam’s aviation market, which also includes Vietnam Airlines’s budget carrier unit and joint venture with Jetstar Pacific.
“Anybody coming into the market now is late,” said Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based analyst at Capa Centre for Aviation. “You have a domestic market becoming saturated. The international market will probably slow down in a couple of years.” —