Too many air carriers would cause difficulties for management

      If Vietnam allowed too many air carriers to operate right now, government agencies would have difficulties managing the aviation industry, said Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung when asked about his ministry’s proposal that no more airlines be licenced until 2015.
Dung said that Vietnam’s policy is to encourage investors in all economic sectors to make investment in the aviation industry. However, Dung said that Vietnam needs to have a clear roadmap on the development of the aviation industry, a very special field. For many years, Vietnam had only one air carrier, Vietnam Airlines, while other air carriers have just been licenced in the last few years.
If Vietnam licenced many more airlines now, while the market remains limited, this could create difficulties in state management work.
Minister Dung said that no recently licenced airline has been operating well.
“The current market conditions could not ensure that all airlines could operate well if we licenced many more airlines now,” Dung said, adding that three or four is a suitable number for the present.
Prior to that, the deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) under the Ministry of Transport also said that the licencing of new airlines could not be carried out in a way “allowing a series of air carriers to be born, and then allowing them to go bankrupt.”
CAAV said that one small problem with an airline can badly affect the image of the national aviation industry.
For example, in 2004 in Indonesia, accidents of two small airlines were enough for Europe to prohibit all 52 airlines of the country from entering EU airspace.
Moreover, government agencies also have to consider the current infrastructure situation to decide whether they ought to licence more airlines.
Currently, Vietnam’s airlines all park their aircrafts overnight at two central airports, Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports.
The overnight parking capacity of the two airports remains limited with 92 points projected for 2015. Meanwhile, it is expected that Vietnam will have a fleet of 149 aircrafts by 2015. Moreover, the country’s capacity in aircraft repair and maintenance also remains limited.
Currently, Vietnam has five air carriers: the national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific, VietJet Air, Indochina Airlines and Mekong Airlines.
Only three, Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific and Indochina Airlines, are providing flights.