Which Vietnamese airlines have gone bankrupt?

The years 2006 - 2007 marked the excitement of Vietnamese aviation when a series of private airlines entered the market such as Vietjet Air, Indochina Airlines, Trai Thien Air Cargo, Air Mekong, Blue Sky.

Indochina stops flying, suffers heavy losses leading to loss of capital after only 1 year of operation

However, with the harsh and "money-burning" industry, up to now only Vietjet Air continues to operate and grow, the remaining names have gradually disappeared from the market.

Indochina Airlines

Indochina Airlines was established in May 2008 with the initial name of AirSpeedUp Joint Stock Company, international trading name AirSpeedUp JSC, charter capital of 200 billion VND. By October 2008, the airline changed its name to Indochina Airlines Joint Stock Company.

There were many expectations when the first flight took place in November 2008, but the airline of tycoon Ha Dung quickly fell into crisis. After only nearly 1 year, in September 2009, this airline had to abandon the Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang route and only maintained the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route.

Facing financial difficulties, Indochina Airlines fell into debt for fuel from Skypec (at that time, Vietnam Aviation Petroleum Company - Vinapco, 100% state-owned). Vinapco could not collect the debt, nor could it stop supplying fuel for fear of being blamed for disrupting air transport operations.

Facing the risk of losing state capital, at the end of 2010, Vinapco sued Indochina Airlines at the Hanoi Economic Court. In addition, Indochina Airlines owed employees salaries and at one point could only maintain a lease of one aircraft. By the end of 2011, the airline asked to stop taking off. By December 2011, the Ministry of Transport officially revoked Indochina Airlines' license.

Trai Thien Air Cargo

Trai Thien Air Cargo is the first private airline in Vietnam licensed to transport goods, mail, and parcels, established in June 2008. Trai Thien was granted a license to operate domestic air cargo transport in October 2009 with a charter capital of 500 billion VND, but has not yet taken off.

Although the estimated cost for the start-up period is also hundreds of billions of dong, after 1 year of being licensed, this airline still has not announced its plan to purchase aircraft or set flight schedules. The airline's employees have continuously sent complaints about unpaid wages.

In December 2011, this airline's business license was revoked due to lack of operational activities.

Blue Sky

Blue Sky Aviation Joint Stock Company has been granted a general aviation business license by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (Ministry of Transport). on June 8, 2010.

However, after 10 years of being licensed, Blue Sky has not yet been granted an Aircraft Operator Certificate (AOC) and has not had any flight operations.

In October 2020, the Ministry of Transport revoked the general aviation business license No. 01/GP-CHK issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to Blue Sky. The reason was that Blue Sky had expired without being granted an AOC and had not yet operated flights.

Meanwhile, according to the provisions of Decree 89/2019/ND-CP of the Government on aviation business, the general aviation business license will be revoked if the AOC is not granted within 3 years from the date of issuance of this license.

Air Mekong once owned 4 Bombardier narrow-body aircraft with 8 routes, but many factors caused this airline to stop operating after nearly 3 years.

Air Mekong

Mekong Airlines Joint Stock Company (Air Mekong) was established with an initial charter capital of 200 billion VND. This is the third private airline licensed in Vietnam, after Indochina Airlines and Vietjet Air.

This airline had its first flight in October 2010, focusing on exploiting routes from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang to Phu Quoc, Da Lat. The difference in Air Mekong's business strategy is choosing the Bombardier CRJ900 narrow-body aircraft with less than 90 seats, exploiting sea tourism routes and basing at Phu Quoc airport.

However, in March 2013, the airline stopped flying due to many factors such as financial difficulties and high operating costs, although according to published information, the seat utilization rate was still up to 82% and it had occupied more than 6% of the domestic market share.

Air Mekong also became a "debtor" due to not paying a debt of nearly 26 billion VND to the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV). This debt arose from a contract to provide take-off/landing services, parking lots, etc.

Air Mekong requested to temporarily suspend operations from March 1, 2013, citing fleet restructuring. However, after one month of requesting to temporarily suspend flights, Air Mekong's AOC expired. After more than one year of suspension, the airline still has not been able to come up with a plan to resume flights and does not meet the conditions to maintain its air transport business license as prescribed.

In early 2015, the Ministry of Transport decided to revoke Air Mekong's air transport business license.

In the US, many major airlines such as American Airlines, United or Delta have filed for bankruptcy at some point. Under US law, bankruptcy protection allows businesses to delay debt repayment while they plan and implement restructuring and business recovery.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/nhung-hang-hang-khong-viet-nao-tung-pha-san-185230715151831848.htm