Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines Corporation
Tổng Công ty Hàng không Việt Nam

File:Vietnam Airlines logo.png
IATA ICAO Callsign VN HVN VIETNAM AIRLINES
Founded	1956 (as Vietnam Civil Aviation)
Hubs	Tan Son Nhat International Airport Noi Bai International Airport
Focus cities	Da Nang International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Golden Lotus Plus
Subsidiaries	Vietnam Air Service Company (VASCO)
Fleet size	47 (+45 orders)
Destinations	61
Parent company	Vietnam Airlines Corporation
Headquarters	Gia Lam, Hanoi, Vietnam
Key people	Pham Ngoc Minh (CEO)
Website	http://www.vietnamairlines.com

Vietnam Airlines Corporation (Vietnamese: Tổng Công ty Hàng không Việt Nam), operating as Vietnam Airlines (Vietnamese: Hãng Hàng không Quốc gia Việt Nam), is the national flag carrier of Vietnam, and was established as a state enterprise in April 1989.

Vietnam Airlines Corporation was subsequently formed in 1993, after bringing together several service companies. The company is overseen by a seven-seat management board, members of which are appointed by the Prime Minister. Vietnam Airlines used to be the major stakeholder in Vietnam's second largest carrier, Pacific Airlines, but its share has recently been transferred to the Ministry of Finance, then subsequently, to the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC).

Vietnam Airlines wholly owns Vietnam Air Service Company (VASCO), a regional airline in southern Vietnam.

In the coming years, along with the strong development of Vietnam tourism, Vietnam Airlines hopes to expand its services further to the United Kingdom and United States of America.

Currently, Vietnam Airlines does not belong to any airline alliance, but it is said to have been in talks about joining either SkyTeam or oneworld.

Destinations

Main article: Vietnam Airlines destinations

Fleet

The Vietnam Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 21 August 2008) [1]:

Vietnam Airlines Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers (Business/Economy)	Routes	Notes
Airbus A320-200	11	160 (0/160)	Domestic and regional routes Vietnam and China
Airbus A321-231	13 (22 orders)	184 (16/168)	Domestic and regional routes	Deliveries: 2008-2011
Airbus A330-200	3	266 (24/242)	Regional and long-haul routes China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand
Airbus A330-300	1	320 (36/284)	Regional and long-haul routes China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand
Airbus A350-900	(10 orders)			Entry into service: 2014
ATR 72-202	7	66 (66)	Domestic routes	Economy Class Only
ATR 72-500	3 (5 orders)	66 (66)	Domestic routes and Cambodia, Laos	Economy Class Only
Boeing 777-200ER	1 4 1 4	295 (12/283) 307 (54/228) 325 (35/290) 338 (32/306)	Domestic and long-haul routes Ha Noi, Da Nang, Frankfurt, Moscow, Paris, Los Angeles[begins October 27, 2008], Melbourne, and Sydney
Boeing 787-8	(16 orders)			Entry into service: 2009
Fokker 70	2	79 (79)	Domestic and regional routes	Economy Class Only

Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321 in new livery

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Boeing 777-200ER in Vietnam Airlines livery

Airbus A330-223

Vietnam Airlines has ordered five Boeing 787-8 aircraft to be delivered from 2009, 12 Boeing 787-8 aircraft to be delivered from 2012 and 10 Airbus A321-200 for deliveries starting from 2006. The new aircraft will allow Vietnam Airlines to expand its network and replace some of its aircraft currently on lease in the fleet.). Vietnam Airlines has leased an ex-Swiss International Air Lines Airbus A330-200 and two ex-Malaysia Airlines A330-200s within the year 2006. Vietnam is also considering of purchasing Airbus a380's but at this stage Vietnam Airlines CEO has quoted as "too big".

As of 21 August 2008, the average age of the Vietnam Airlines fleet is 8 years ([2]).

On October 1, 2007 Vietnam Airlines signed an MOU for the order of 10 A350 XWB and an additional 20 A321s .

Retired

• Boeing 767
• Ilyushin Il-14 Crate
• Tupolev Tu-134 Crusty
• Yakovlev Yak-40 Codling
• Antonov An-24 Coke

In-flight services

Entertainment

On long-haul flights aboard the Boeing 777, all seats are equipped with in-flight entertainment. The Boeing 777 is equipped with Audio/Video On Demand (AVOD). AVOD allows passengers to select from a wide range of multilingual entertainment options, including feature films, music, news, and games.

Codeshare agreements

As of December 15, 2007, Vietnam Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines :

American Airlines Cathay Pacific China Airlines China Southern Airlines Garuda Indonesia Japan Airlines

Korean Air Lao Airlines Mandarin Airlines Philippine Airlines Qantas Virgin Blue

Airline Alliance

Vietnam Airlines doesn't currently belong to an airline alliance but is currently in talks with SkyTeam which Vietnam Airlines currently code-shares with founding member Korean Air and China Southern Airlines, who joined last year. According to Chairman of Skyteam and Chairman of Air France-KLM Board, talks are beginning made at Hanoi later this year, paving the airline to the SkyTeam early next year. Although Vietnam Airlines is "currently" in talks to SkyTeam, oneworld current member Japan Airlines has expressed interest in surpporting the airline to join Oneworld, showing the airline the know-how on ground handling services to oneworld's standards, and then to sponsor the airline for sponsorship it into oneworld as the first Southeast Asian carrier to join the alliance, with Vietnam Airlines have code shares with 4 current oneworld members including, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qantas. Vietnam Airlines is also a part of Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles program.

Vietnam Airlines Cargo

Vietnam Airlines Cargo is the cargo division of Vietnam Airlines, providing cargo service to hundreds of destinations in Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, through their own network as well as partners' network. It also operates the International Cargo Terminal, which is a joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Service, at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

The fleet of Vietnam Airlines Cargo are as follows:

Aircraft	Total	Notes
Airbus A300	?
Airbus A320 family	?
Airbus A330	?
Boeing 777-200ER	?

Incidents and accidents

Main article: List of accidents and incidents involving Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines experienced three fatal and several non-fatal incidents in the last 20 years. All fatal incidents have involved Russian made aircraft, all of which have since been phased out. Most of these incidents occurred on final approach or landing. All three fatal crashes occurred in driving rain.

There have been five reported hijackings in Vietnam. Three of these occurred in the 1970s during the Vietnam War on flights of Air Vietnam, the national flag airline managed by South Vietnam. The two other hijackings occurred in 1977 and 1992.

Training

According to the Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, a trade association of Asian based airlines, Vietnam’s aviation industry lacks experience in the realm of pilot and crew training. However, Vietnam Airlines is effecting continual improvements in this field. Vietnam Airlines undertook plans to train 400 pilots shortly after the start of the year 2000.

Transportation of dangerous goods, cabin crew training, CRM (crew-resource management) and pilot training are all safety enhancing programs taught to airline personnel. New Vietnamese pilots are assigned as Western-type aircraft co-pilots. All pilots – both national and foreign – receive biannual simulator training and periodic line checks by Western pilots. A Hanoi-based Airbus cabin mock-up is specifically used for smoke and evacuation training.

Most ATR captains and co-pilots are Vietnamese. Currently, Airbus captains and co-pilots are approximately one-third foreign and two-thirds Vietnamese citizens. All Fokker flight crews are Vietnamese, but instructors and check pilots are expatriates. Most Boeing flight crews are Vietnamese, and about one-third foreign.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam signed a contract with Socfreavia of France to set up a pilot training school in the central province of Phu Yen in late 1998. To date, this has not been completed. Only 40 per cent of Vietnam Airlines’ aircraft are captained by Vietnamese citizens, all of whom are required to attend training programs abroad. Many pilots have received training at the General Flying Services in Melbourne, Australia.

Maintenance

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Boeing maintenance at Vietnam Airlines

Scheduled maintenance intervals are relatively conservative and follow the manufacturers' recommendations. Major engine and propeller maintenance is contracted to qualified overseas maintenance facilities, although a shift to performing more maintenance in-house is currently taking place. There have been no serious maintenance discrepancies with Vietnam Airlines in its history. Maintenance of Vietnam Airlines has been rated as one of the best in the world, and has passed many audits by competent regulatory bodies - including IOSA - without any remarkable findings.

As of May 1, 1992, Vietnam Airlines began conducting its own western-built aircraft repair and maintenance, starting with French-Italian turboprop ATR-72. Vietnamese technicians have since conducted repairs and maintenance of Boeing B737, Airbus A320, and Fokker F70 aircraft, and began maintenance checks on Boeing B767 aircraft in 1999, Boeing B777 aircraft in 2002. The transfer of maintenance and repair work from Airbus to Vietnam Airlines is projected to save the airline US$20 million a year. In August 1998, 15 technicians from the flag carrier took a course on aircraft maintenance and repair at the Boeing Center in Seattle. Vietnam Airlines sent all 45 technicians in mechanical engineering and wireless transmission to Boeing for the course, which ended in 1999. Trainees had been appraised as best at the Seattle FlightSafety Boeing training facility and were issued certificates, which are recognized by Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority. Additionally, in June 1998, Boeing signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam Airlines stating that it would, at its own cost, assist Vietnam Airlines in a maintenance and engineering support program to upgrade the aircraft-maintenance center at Tan Son Nhat Airport, so that it can become a full-capability maintenance center for Boeing 767 aircraft.

In conjunction with other investors, in April 1998, Vietnam Airlines stated it would invest US$1 million to develop an aircraft tire and brake maintenance workshop at the Ho Chi Minh City-based Aircraft Maintenance Center (AMC) A-75, with the assistance of Japan Airlines. Upon completion, the hangar facility now has a US$16 million tire/wheel/brake overhaul facility and a US$12 million avionics test and repair facility, capable of full maintenance on Vietnam Airlines aircraft fleet's wheels and brakes.

Now AMC A-75 provides line maintenance services for many airlines that operate Boeing, Airbus aircraft into the biggest aviation hub in Vietnam, namely Mandarin, Royal Brunei Airlines, Tiger Airways, Jetstar Asia (of Singapore), and many others.

There are no production facilities in Vietnam for aircraft and aircraft parts. Boeing has managed to obtain 35 per cent of the distribution market in Vietnam, and General Electric, in turn, supplies jet engines for the Boeing aircraft.

In addition to its self maintenance facilities, Vietnam Airlines also has maintenance contracts with Air France, AMECO of China, China Airlines, Evergreen Aviation Technologies, GAMECO, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co, Lufthansa AERO, MTU Maintenance Hanover, Royal Brunei Airlines, Safe Air of New Zealand, and TAT Industries of France.

Financial standing

Vietnam Airlines is owned by the government of Vietnam. The carrier has two wholly owned subsidiaries: Vietnam Aviation Service Company (VASCO) and Vietnam Airlines Express.

Vietnam Airlines enjoyed good growth and an average 45 per cent increase in passengers flown per year until 1997, when the Southeast Asian economic crisis and other contributing factors led to a loss in profits for the airline. Nevertheless, the airline remained profitable throughout the crisis. In 1996 and 1997, the airline posted profits exceeding US$100 million each year. In 1998, the airline saw its profit shrink to approximately US$7 million. Profits increased to US$59 million in 1999. Following the September 2001 attacks on the United States, at a time when many airlines were struggling, Vietnam Airlines saw a spike in passenger revenues. The airline carried more than 4 million passengers in 2002, which is an 18 per cent increase over the previous year. Its cargo traffic also rose 20 per cent in the same period, resulting in a 2002 profit of US$35.77 million. Despite the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, the airline posted a US$26.2 million profit for 2003. In 2006, it carried 6.8 million passengers (3.7 million international) and earned revenue of nearly US$1.37 billion (first 11 months). Vietnam airlines carried more than 8,1 million passengers in 2007.

Vietnam Airlines is enjoying its current financial situation and is planning to increase its fleet size and destinations in the coming years.

Vietnam Airlines holds 40 per cent of the market share of international tourists flying to and from Vietnam. This is significant because Vietnam Airlines receives two-thirds of its profits from international passengers.

External links

• Vietnam Airlines official website in English