Stop licensing new airlines, limit the addition of fleets

Many economic experts believe that the Government has been implementing overall solutions through support packages, removing difficulties for aviation businesses that have been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 epidemic, adding additional other objective factors such as escalating fuel prices, the Russia-Ukraine war… These supports need to be maintained, especially when Vietnamese airlines are struggling after 2 years of fighting against them. fight the epidemic, to have money to operate.

According to the financial report, Vietnam Airlines in 2021 will lose 13,337 billion VND, in 2020 it will lose 10,056 billion VND. In the first quarter of 2022, Vietnam Airlines’ consolidated financial statements recorded a loss of VND 2,700 billion.

Notably, the equity of Vietnam Airlines was negative after 9 consecutive quarters of loss. If this situation persists, by the end of the year, the national airline will be at risk of forced delisting.

Meanwhile, Vietjet Air in 2021 lost VND 3,088 billion, in 2020 a loss of VND 3,134 billion; accumulated loss in two years is 6,222 billion dong. Bamboo Airways, although it does not have to disclose financial statements, when it applied to fly directly to the US (in 2020) mentioned a loss of USD 156 million, equivalent to nearly VND 3,600 billion.

Proposing appropriate mechanisms, policies and resources for aviation recovery and development in the new context, Prof. Tran Tho Dat, former President of the National Economics University, suggested that the State Bank should speed up the credit support package for businesses.

He said that aviation – tourism and a number of related service industries should be considered as the top priority industries to borrow at preferential interest rates, with a term of at least 2-3 years, to revive. At the same time, it is necessary to consider reducing some costs in order to partially limit the impact of the increase in gasoline and jet fuel prices through the reduction of import tax rates on aviation fuel; remove some constraints on price policy such as adjusting the ceiling price of air tickets; allow airlines to surcharge fuel for domestic flights; Airline service price support…

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Canh, Vice Chairman of the State Capital Management Committee, hopes that the Ministry of Transport needs solutions to manage the size of the domestic aviation market.

Accordingly, it is necessary to control the amount of new airline until the market recovers; In the short term, limit the licensing of additional fleets until domestic airlines exploit all the available aircraft, the scale of operation returns to the same as in 2019 to avoid oversupply.

In the long term, the Ministry considers and proposes that the number of aircrafts to be granted should not exceed the growth rate of the airport system’s receiving capacity and match the growth rate and market management capacity; Open the door with a schedule with foreign airlines until the aviation market recovers to regulate and limit the number of flights.

Sharing the same opinion, Assoc. Pham Thi Giang Thu (Hanoi Law University), said that, in addition to financial support, it is advisable to suspend licensing and establish new airlines at this time to restore and develop existing airlines. possess.

Regarding the current debts of airlines, she raised her point of view: there is a problem of debt redemption and securitization of those debts, because domestic airlines are currently unable to access to foreign airlines. credit institutions, and the banks themselves cannot lend anymore because of the ceiling.

Circular 04/2021 of the State Bank allows the settlement and restructuring of debts for Vietnam Airlines, so the question is should it be applied to the remaining airlines?

In addition, regarding the policy of air freight and transportation, Mr. Pham Ngoc Canh suggested that the Government should take measures to control and regulate prices in the extraordinary period to limit head-to-head competition and ensure the development of air freight. stable and sustainable development of the industry through the issuance of minimum prices (floor prices) for air transportation services, basic passenger transportation services for flights.

Continue to support the aviation industry in accordance with Resolution 43 of the CP until the market recovers, such as reducing take-off and landing fees, flight management; free government guarantee; increase the reduction of environmental protection tax for firms. The State Capital Management Committee proposes to exempt and reduce 100% of environmental protection tax for Vietnamese airlines under the pressure of raw material prices.

N.Ha

Without international passengers, Vietnamese airlines have not been able to recoverAlthough the domestic market had a strong breakthrough, the recovery of Vietnam’s aviation industry was not as expected because the international market faced many difficulties.