The Vietnamese aviation market is forecast to begin recovering by the middle of the third quarter this year. —Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnamese aviation market is forecast to begin recovering by the middle of the third quarter with this year’s total estimated capacity of over 70 million passengers.

Đinh Việt Thắng, director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam (CAAV), said the forecast was made as the COVID-19 vaccination process had been accelerated in both Việt Nam and around the world.

He said many key markets of Việt Nam's aviation sector, including Northeast Asia and Europe, could achieve herd immunity soon as a basis for gradually reopening international air transport by the end of the third quarter or at the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year.

Statistics of the CAAV show that the aviation sector’s capacity in the first six months of this year was estimated to reach 26.8 million passengers, 19.4 per cent lower than the same period in 2020, and 668,000 tonnes of cargo, about 12.7 per cent higher than the same period in 2020.

According to a report by the CAAV, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a tumultuous period to the world aviation industry.

The world aviation industry was estimated to have suffered a dramatic 60 per cent drop over 2020, equivalent to about 2.89 billion passengers, with a revenue deficit of US$327 billion, of which the Asia-Pacific region recorded the strongest drop of $107 billion, the report said.

For the Vietnamese aviation market, 2020 was a challenging time for the aviation industry due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The order restricting flights and social distancing to prevent the spread of the pandemic had caused many international routes to be suspended, the report said.

This year, the domestic aviation market has continued suffering ups and downs due to the pandemic’s developments.

There are about 30 foreign airlines from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle East and France operating flights to transport diplomats, experts, investors, skilled workers, foreign students and cargo to and from Việt Nam so far, the report said.

Thus, domestic airlines had already used most of their fleets to operate domestic routes with skyrocketing capacity in both frequency and number of routes, the report said.

Accordingly, the number of routes of domestic airlines had reached 62, an increase of 10 routes compared to 2019.

However, since May 31, domestic passenger transport by air had dropped seriously to only 20-30 per cent compared to the March-April period this year.

Due to the inactivity of many aircraft, parking space has been overloaded at Nội Bài International Aiport and Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport.

The CAAV has to adjust the operating schedule so the aircraft could park overnight at other airports, the report said.

After international flight operations are gradually restored, 20-30 per cent of fleets of domestic airlines would no longer stay overnight at the airports because international routes to Europe and Northeast Asia would be run overnight, the report said. — VNS