11:33:42 AM | 23/10/2007
National carrier Vietnam Airlines October 19 said that it had earned pretax profits of VND301 billion ($18.8 million) in the first nine months of this year, representing a sharp increase compared with VND304 billion last year.
The airline said that it fulfilled over 83 per cent of its profit target for this year, however, gave no comparative figure with the same period of 2006.
Between January and September, Vietnam Airlines conducted 47,279 flights, carrying over 5.8 million passengers, up 12.7 per cent on-year.
Domestic passengers accounted for 3.4 million and foreigners held the remainder, a year-on-year increase of 22.2 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.
The carrier also transported more than 82,400 tons of cargo, up 5.6 per cent on-year.
The average rate of seat occupancy was estimated at 75.2 per cent in the first nine months, 1.6 point higher than 2006.
Vietnam Air Service Co. (Vasco) under Vietnam Airlines’ Vasco served 109,000 passengers and reported VND75.3 billion in the period.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has assigned the Ministry of Finance to privatize Vietnam Airlines. This is one of 53 state-owned groups and corporations to be privatized in the from now to 2010.
The national airline is preparing to open trans-Indochina routes including Hanoi- Luang Prabang- Seam Reap and Hanoi-Guangzhou from its winter schedule this year. (Vietnam Airlines’ Website)
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