An Airbus A321 aircraft belonging to national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines at Liên Khương airport in the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng. — VNS Photo Bồ Xuân Hiệp

HCM CITY — National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced it plans to sell three A321 CEO aircraft through an auction in the third quarter.

The jets were manufactured in 2007 and would have a starting price of US$5 million each, it said.

The airline has chosen an asset auction unit to handle the sale of these aircraft, which bear Vietnamese nationality and are identified by their respective serial numbers: A350, A351, and A352.

The jets are currently parked at Hà Nội’s Nội Bài International Airport and HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport.

The auction is part of the carrier’s efforts to renew its aircraft that are more than ten years old and to improve its financial situation impacted by the economic turmoil and the pandemic.

In 2020, the company successfully sold five A321 jets for a total of $37 million, averaging $7.4 million per aircraft.

In 2021, the airline also announced an auction for 11 Airbus A321 CEO aircraft that had been in service for over 12 years.

It had recently sold several ATR-72 aircraft.

Vietnam Airlines currently operates a fleet of 94 aircraft, with 65 A321 aircraft having an average age of 9.3 years.

In the first half of the year, the airline conducted 64,300 flights, transporting 10.14 million passengers, up 23.6 per cent year-on-year.

Its revenue exceeded VNĐ45.2 trillion in the period, up nearly 50 per cent year-on-year, which was still slightly lower compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019. — VNS