Vietnam Airlines to take delivery of new aircraft before Tet rush
12:46 04/03/2009

      With Vietnamese everywhere preparing to return home for Lunar New Year, Vietnam Airlines will soon get new aircraft which it said would put an end to the recent flurry of delays and cancellations.

Its deputy general director, Pham Ngoc Minh, admitted since October the number of delayed and cancelled flights had risen since the carrier had returned all its leased aircraft.

On some domestic routes this meant there were no more seats on flights between Feb. 8 and 16.

Minh said 10 new Airbus A321s and one new Boeing 787-8 together with spare engines would be delivered starting in the first week of January. The carrier bought them using loans of over US$1.2 billion from foreign banks like France’s Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank and the US’s Eximbank.

The national flag carrier announced recently it would add 767 new flights on domestic routes between February 1 and March 3, including 306 between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and 316 between Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

Source: Thanh Nien, SGGP – Compiled by Luu Thi Hong

Source : thanhniennews.com