Planes looking for slots on the runway
According to a representative of Noi Bai International Airport: “Normally, the number of aircrafts parked overnight at Noi Bai is about 70 and the next day they fly out. But recently, we have had to arrange parking space for nearly 90 aircrafts, many of which do not operate for weeks or even months. Often each night, there are about 30 planes of Vietnam Airlines parked at Noi Bai airport, nearly 10 of them are not operated. Vietjet Air is in the same situation. No airline can avoid this problem.” He added: The parking lot did not have enough space, so they asked the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam to close the entire taxiway S1 to serve as an overnight parking space for aircraft.
In a report of Noi Bai International Airport, recently, there are about 5,000-6,000 passengers with 80-90 flights each day which decreased much more than before the outbreak. “Normally, the number of visitors through Noi Bai is about 50,000 – 60,000 visitors, peak times can reach nearly 80,000 visitors per day. If the number of guests is 1/10, the plane just lies in the yard, not knowing where to fly”, the representative of Noi Bai International Airport shared.
Mr. Dinh Viet Thang, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said that the complicated development of the COVID-19 epidemic had severely affected civil aviation activities across the country. Vietnam’s domestic airlines are the hardest hit. In fact, CAAV has also urgently sent a document to the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) about a solution for the needs of airlines for overnight parking.
Severe overabundance of resources
In a recent report, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasted that the number of passengers using air transport services in 2021 will only reach nearly 43% compared to the periods before the pandemic occurred (2019) and only fully recover in 2023.
In Vietnam, statistics show that the number of aircrafts to date is about 230 aircraft, an increase of 24 aircraft compared to 2019, equivalent 10% of the fleet.
According to the data reported in April 2021,the total number of surplus aircraft of Vietnamese airlines is approximately 58 ships, accounting for 26% of the total.
Airlines are looking for solutions
In this context, Vietnam Airlines was forced to restructure the fleet to increase income and improve cash flow. Accordingly, the total number of old aircraft that can be restructured in the whole period of 2021 – 2025 is 26 A321 aircraft. Currently, 11 A321 CEO aircraft, manufactured in 2004, 2007 and 2008 are put up for auction.
Aviation was forecasted to be smaller in the future, but some airlines still continually welcome new aircrafts. After one years from Covid-19 outbreak in Vietnam, airlines have received 17 more aircraft in total.
Van Anh
