HÀ NỘI – Eighty-eight per cent of flights operated by national carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) and its members Jetstar Pacific Airlines and Việt Nam Air Service Company (VASCO) in the first two months of this year, including during the peak Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday period, were on time.

The airlines said the figure, an increase of 10 per cent compared with the same period last year, was cause for celebration, as the airlines had to operate in overloaded infrastructure, especially at Tân Sân Nhất International Airport.

VNA reported that its carriage of passenger was up 20 per cent during the period, a slight drop compared with last year’s recorded growth of 34 per cent.

VNA and VNA Group have pushed operations in key routes from Hà Nội, Hồ Chí Minh City and Đà Nẵng with a market share of between 64 and 67 per cent, and maintained its domestic route market share at 61 per cent.

While the firm’s costs remained stable over the first two months, the price of oil rocketed, causing additional costs of VNĐ300 billion more than the same period last year.

VNA and VNA Group have been looking for solutions to cope with the situation. They will focus on co-operation with other airlines of Skyteam to raise the efficiency of services. VNA will continue exploiting the international market with a passenger growth rate of 14 per cent.

With a fleet of wide-body aircraft including ten B787, six A350, six A330 and four B777, the carrier in the first two months occupied 90 per cent of the market share of domestic goods transportation. It has expanded services to export goods to foreign territories, including Europe and Japan. – VNS