The Ministry of Transport has recently submitted to the Prime Minister the draft to revise the country’s aviation transport development plan till 2020 with a vision to 2030, which is aimed at help Vietnam among the top four leading nations in air traffic in ASEAN.
A revision in the country’s aviation industry development plan will ensure the industry to develop sustainably
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There are currently four licensed airlines -- Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific Airlines, Vietjet and Vietnam Air Services Company. To open opportunities for new investors to enter the aviation market, there’s a need to increase the capacity of airports and expand the scale of aircraft fleet in the next three years.
According to Decree 118/2015/NĐ-CP issued by the Government in 2015 on detailed regulations and guiding the implementation of a number of articles on the Law on Investment, one of the requirements to receive investment certification is that the project must be suitable with the aviation industry’s development plan.
That is why many airlines, such as Vietstar Air and Bamboo Airlines, have failed to get licenses although they have met the demand on capital and flying capacity.
According to the revised plan, the country will upgrade three aviation transport centers of Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat and Danang to make it meet ASEAN standards while set up three more logistics chains of Van Don, Chu Lai and Long Thanh.
The aviation industry will exploit 23 airports with an annual traffic of 144 million passengers by 2020 and 28 airports with an annual traffic of 308 million passengers by 2030, according to the revised plan.
The ministry predicts that the transport of passengers via domestic airlines will increase at an average rate of 16% annually from now until 2020 and by 8 per cent during 2020-2030. Meanwhile, the transport of goods is expected to grow at an annual rate of 18% from now until 2020 and at 12% annually during 2020-2030.
The domestic airlines are expected to reach a volume of 64 million passengers every year by 2020 and 131 million annually by 2030.
This growth rate is 2-4% higher than the current plan and is also higher than the average growth of the global aviation industry.
General Director of Vietstar Air Pham Trinh Phuong said if the draft plan was approved by the Government, his firm would consider adjusting for an airport to seek the opportunity to operate sooner.
Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Cong said the draft was updated on the basis of the scientific objections raised by the Science and Aviation Technology Association and Aircraft Design and Consultancy Company Ltd at the request of Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung.
A revision in the plan is needed, creating a legal framework to continuously develop aviation transportation in future and ensuring sustainability and safety, Dung said.
The current plan was approved by the Prime Minister in 2009. After many years of implementation, the scale of aviation market has progressed, but it still ranks the fifth in ASEAN. It has not yet attracted giant airlines to open direct routes to Vietnam, and its infrastructure in a number of airports fail to meet the increasing demand, resulting in overcrowding.
