Vietnam Airlines will receive two more Dreamliner 2-787 ships, Boeing's most modern wide-body aircraft in the first half of next year.
This information was shared by Vietnam Airlines CEO Le Hong Ha at the annual general meeting of shareholders on December 16. At the meeting, leaders of the national airline focused on answering shareholders about the plan to stop losses, restructuring roadmap, as well as the risk of HVN shares being delisted on HoSE.
Mr. Ha said that Vietnam Airlines is building a business plan for 2024 with bad, medium and high scenarios. Vietnam Airlines plans to ensure fleet resources with dry and wet lease options based on high scenarios to always be ready for market growth.
CEO Le Hong Ha answered shareholders' questions at the morning meeting on December 16. Image: VNAO
According to the plan, Vietnam Airlines will wet lease 4 Airbus A321 aircraft to serve the upcoming Tet peak. The company plans to receive 2 Boeing Dreamliner 787-10 ships in April and June respectively. In the second half of next year, the company will add 4 more Airbus A6neo ships.
The Dreamliner 787-10 is Boeing's most modern wide-body aircraft line today, carrying about 787% more passengers and cargo than the 9-15. The two aircraft Vietnam Airlines received in the first half of next year are part of the airline's pre-pandemic agreement with the American manufacturer. Vietnam Airlines started operating this aircraft line in the second half of 2019 and currently operates 4 aircraft for direct flights to the US, Australia, and Europe. In a fleet of nearly 100 ships, the airline also has 11 Dreamliner 787-9 ships.
Vietnam Airlines must add additional aircraft in the context that from next month 10 A321 aircraft will have to undergo engine maintenance. According to Mr. Ha, previously, engine maintenance only took about 75-90 days, but now it needs a minimum of 200 days due to supply chain disruption.
A ship displaying Boeing Dreamliner B787-10 of Vietnam Airlines. Image: Brandon Chen/Planespotters
For the whole year of 2023, Vietnam Airlines is expected to still lose more than 6.000 billion VND, although revenue will increase more than 20% compared to 2022 to about 91.800 billion VND - nearly equal to the pre-epidemic peak. However, the company still cannot escape losses due to rising input costs, especially fuel prices and unfavorable exchange rates.
HVN shares are facing the risk of being delisted on HoSE due to 3 consecutive years of losses and negative equity based on the recently released 2022 audited financial report. Regarding this issue, Chief Accountant Tran Thanh Hien said that the corporation's situation is very special because, before the epidemic, Vietnam Airlines was still among the top large-capitalized enterprises on HoSE, as well as in healthy financial health. .
“But the pandemic hit and caused many airlines around the world to struggle, not just Vietnam Airlines. I believe that management agencies will objectively consider factors that negatively affect the company," Mr. Hien said, adding that he hopes HVN shares may not be delisted.
According to Vietnam Airlines Chief Accountant, the company needs many years to erase accumulated losses. However, the company does not need too long to return to profit and escape negative equity.
Mr. Hien said that the most important thing for Vietnam Airlines is to approve the overall restructuring project. In the immediate future, he hopes that the divestment of capital at Skypec aviation petroleum company, as well as the issuance of additional shares, will be approved soon to overcome difficulties for Vietnam Airlines. In addition, the company also plans to continue divesting capital from other subsidiaries.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Airlines Dang Ngoc Hoa informed that the overall restructuring project of Vietnam Airlines has been evaluated through many rounds and has now reached the highest level, the Government. Among them, the airline's own solutions stand out, followed by support mechanisms and policies from the Government as the largest shareholder of Vietnam Airlines.
While waiting for the project to be approved, according to Mr. Hoa, Vietnam Airlines has also implemented many internal solutions to overcome difficulties such as cutting and optimizing costs in the last two years by thousands of billions of dong, and completing the divestment. phase one capital at K6 airline in Cambodia, partially implementing the liquidation of aircraft, opening a series of new routes to increase domestic market share by 3 percentage points.
The Chairman of Vietnam Airlines said that in 2024, the airline will continue to sell a number of old aircraft, and also implement sales and leaseback (Sales & Leaseback) of engines. The airline also plans to expand a number of international destinations in Europe and America, and promote exploitation of the Chinese and Indian markets.
On this basis, Mr. Hoa affirmed that Vietnam Airlines has set a very ambitious goal for 2024 to balance revenue and expenditure. "Over the past 3 years, the company has tried very hard but has not been able to do this because the impact from the pandemic is too severe," Mr. Hoa shared.
Anh Tu
