Thailand
Vietnam: Drop in number of passengers, many planes abandoned
Due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, airline passenger numbers have dropped sharply, and as a result, many planes have been abandoned at the airport.
A representative of Noi Bai International Airport said that before the epidemic broke out, the airport had about 70 aircraft parked overnight, which had flighted the next morning. However, during the pandemic, the authorities of the airport have had to arrange parking lots for nearly 90 aircraft. Some of them have been unused for a whole month.
Vietnam Airlines alone has up to 30 aircraft parked at Noi Bai nightly, of which more than a dozen are not operating. In addition to Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air also has a number of unused aircraft.
According to a representative of Noi Bai Airport, normally Noi Bai served about 50,000 – 60,000 passengers a day, or even nearly 80,000 on some days, but now the airport only has 5,000 – 6,000 passengers per day.
Noi Bai Airport had no more parking space, so Noi Bai Airport authorities had to ask the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to close the entire S1 taxiway to use as a parking space.
Currently, domestic airlines have 230 aircraft of all kinds, an increase of 24 units compared to 2019, or an increase of about 10% of the fleet.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the number of passengers using air transport services in 2021 will only reach about 43% compared to the time before the pandemic (2019). It may recover in 2023.
According to data from April 2021, based on the actual number of flight hours of all airlines, the average flight time/aircraft for each type of aircraft and the number of existing aircraft of the airlines, the total number of redundant aircraft of Vietnamese airlines is about 58, accounting for 26% of the total number of aircraft.
Due to the epidemic, Vietnam Airlines was forced to come up with a solution to restructure the fleet to increase income, improve cash flow, erase accumulated losses, and create money for development investment.
Accordingly, the total number of old aircraft that can be considered in the restructuring plan from 2021 to 2025 is 26 A321 CEO aircraft manufactured in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
Vietnam Airlines is about to auction 11 A321 CEO aircraft, manufactured in 2004, 2007 and 2008. This will help the carrier reduce the cost burden and earn money as well.
Vu Diep
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/en/business/drop-in-number-of-passengers-many-planes-abandoned-745606.html