AAA 1022187 Vietnam Airlines to Expand Fleet

AAA 1022187 Vietnam Airlines to expand fleet

HANOI, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) — Vietnam Airlines, the country’s national flag carrier, will develop its fleet to 60 aircraft in 2010, 85 in 2015 and 107 in 2020, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Monday.

Under the airlines development plan recently approved by the Vietnamese government, the carrier will get loans from international financial agencies to buy 43 planes, including 20 Airbus A321s, 10 A350-900s, 8 Boeing B787-8s, and 5 ATR-72s by 2020.

The government has approved a budget of 904 billion Vietnamese dong (VND) (56.5 million U.S. dollars) for purchasing 4 Boeing B787- 8s under the airlines’ contract signed in 2005.

It has also asked the carrier to cooperate with local and foreign training institutions to establish a pilot training centerwith a focus on training aeronautical engineers, and instructed the Finance Ministry to draft a program for the airlines’ equitization.

Vietnam Airlines reaped revenues of nearly 14.48 trillion VND (905 million dollars), and pre-tax profits of 301 billion VND (over18.8 million dollars) in the first nine months of this year.

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