Reporter: The year 2022 witnessed many important milestones of the aviation industry after the Covid-19 pandemic, how do you rate Vietnam Airlines’ performance in the past year?
Despite many unprecedented challenges, the year 2022 saw a great end for Vietnam Airlines, Vietnam’s aviation industry and our country.
We have met the travel needs of passengers after more than 2 years affected by the pandemic; ensuring safety of special flights serving leaders of the Communist Party, State and National Assembly. We also continue to maintain and improve service quality complies with international standards; kept technical and flight operations stable. At the same time, Vietnam Airlines has prepared for market recovery such as labour training, technical maintenance, product research…to increase operational efficiency and grasp any opportunities of the market to recover and increase revenue…
In particular, this year, Vietnam Airlines continues to affirm the position of Vietnam’s national airline in the domestic and foreign markets when achieving many prestigious awards such as the Asia’s Leading Airline Award – Economy Class ; Asia’s leading airline brand; Asia’s best MICE Airline; and 1st place among the top most recognised brands in 2022…
Based on this result, Vietnam Airlines has achieved all the goals set out in 2022. Despite efforts to lead a strong recovery in the aviation market with increasing demand, it seems that Vietnam Airlines still fell short of expectations.
Experts of the International Aviation Association (IATA) said that the global aviation industry will return to pre pandemic levels by 2025. The unprecedented impact during the 2020-2021 period put an extra burden on Vietnam Airlines’ financial situation. Before the pandemic, Vietnam Airlines was a top enterprise, with high financial potential, revenue and profit growth for years. The outbreak of when the Covid-19 epidemic led Vietnam Airlines to suffer unavoidable losses. However we proactively cut costs to a minimum, reorganised operations, sought every opportunity to increase revenue, restructured the operations and improved management capacity. All efforts were made to avoid the risk of bankruptcy.
It should be added that, after the Covid-19 pandemic, the aviation market had experienced a strong but uneven recovery between the domestic and international markets. Currently, domestic flights have bounced back to level higher than those of 2019, while some international routes such as Japan, Korea, Australia, France, and the UK have partially recovered. However, many routes including Russia and China which accounted for a healthy proportion of the airline’s revenue, have not yet restarted. Meanwhile, costs of fuel and exchange rates, which account for the most significant proportion of Vietnam Airlines’ cost structure, are surging while revenue growth has not kept pace. Those factors are beyond the airlines’ control and are forecasted to persist in 2023.
With the support of the Government, the National Assembly, the trust of customers and our workforce’s tremendous efforts, Vietnam Airlines has exceeded our business targets in 2022. The financial situation improved, same for the subsidiaries’ profitability. These figures indicate that recovery of the aviation industry is still going strong and Vietnam Airlines has caught up with the tide.
The world economy and politics are becoming volatile, and business in the aviation sector is heavily reliant on many external factors. What should Vietnam Airlines do to affirm its position as the National Airlines?
We place customers at the heart of our business and we identify safety and service quality as the key directions because there are the core needs of our customers that any airline should meet. However, it’s easier said than done. Not all airlines can leverage these basic criteria to create a competitive advantage and be outstanding.
Vietnam Airlines has invested heavily in safety and is now the only airline in Vietnam that fully meets the strict safety standards of Europe and the US. We are also one of the few airlines in the world to have obtained the EDTO 240 extended-range certificate. In terms of services, Vietnam Airlines is proud to maintain the quality of 4-star international standard and with the service improvement program, we aim to become a 5-star airline in the near future. These results were only made possible with the long-term vision and high determination of our workforce and leadership. This value helps to differentiate Vietnam Airlines in a fiercely competitive market.
What are your expectations of Vietnam Airlines Group and your message to the customers in this new year 2023?
We are entering the new year with many opportunities and challenges. I would like to express my deep gratitude to customers who have always trusted Vietnam Airlines. We aspire to bring the best service possible and absolute safety to them, while enhancing the application of technology for better customer experience.
On this occasion, I would like to wish all passengers a new year filled with luck, success and pleasant flights with Vietnam Airlines.
Nguyen Mai Huong-COMM
