Vietnam Airlines, the country's national flag carrier, will buy some 300-seat aircraft between 2011 and 2015 to serve its trans-continent flights, local newspaper Transport reported on Wednesday.
Vietnam Airlines is considering the purchase of either Boeing 787-9 or Airbus A350-900. It will also buy and charter smaller planes such as ATR72, A320, A321, Boeing 767 and Boeing 787 to raise its total fleets to over 60 aircraft by 2010 and more than 80 by 2015 from 44 at present.
In 2007, Vietnam Airlines will launch some regional routes linking Vietnam's Hanoi city to South Korea's Busan; Hanoi to Japan's Nagoya; and Hanoi to Laos' Luang Prabang, Cambodia's Siem Reap and Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City, the carrier's Vice General Director Pham Ngoc Minh has said recently.
Vietnam Airlines this year targets to carry 7.6 million passengers and over 119,000 tons of cargo, posting respective surges of 13.7 percent and 14 percent against last year. It also eyes a 13.3-percent increase in turnover which stood at 17.5 trillion Vietnamese dong (US$1.1 billion) in 2006.
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2007)