Hanoi - Vietnam Airlines signed an agreement Thursday with
French aircraft manufacturer ATR to buy five short-haul turboprops,
part of a plan to more than double its overall fleet by 2020.
'We believe that the addition of five more ATR 72-500 planes to
our fleet will meet rising demand on short routes in a timely
fashion,' company chairman Nguyen Sy Hung said.
Air travel in Vietnam has been expanding rapidly, more than
keeping pace with the country's 8 per cent annual economic growth
rate. In the first nine months of 2007, Vietnam Airlines carried 12.7
per cent more passengers than in the same period last year.
The first of the 70-seat ATR 72-500s will be delivered to the
state-owned carrier in January 2009, and the remaining four by 2011,
according to a company press release.
Vietnam Airlines currently has 10 ATR-72s in a total fleet of 47
aircraft. It plans to expand to 110 aircraft by 2020.
In early October, the company signed a deal with Europe's Airbus
to purchase 10 A350-900s. It also inked an agreement with Boeing to
purchase 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
The decision to buy both Airbus and Boeing planes in the same
category was criticized as political motivated by some analysts, who
said it would lead to higher maintenance costs.
The Vietnamese government plans to invest 15 billion dollars in
aviation through 2020, including eight billion dollars for new planes
and five billion more for airport construction. The country plans to
have 10 international airports, up from two at present.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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