Vietnam Airlines

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Vietnam Airlines

IATA VN	ICAO HVN	Callsign VIET NAM AIRLINES
Founded		1956 (as Air Vietnam)
Hubs		Tan Son Nhat International Airport (Ho Chi Minh City) Noi Bai International Airport (Hanoi)
Focus cities		Da Nang International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Golden Lotus Plus
Alliance		None
Fleet size		45
Destinations		17 domestic and 26 international
Parent company		Vietnam Airlines Corporation
Headquarters		Hanoi, Vietnam
Key people		Nguyen Xuan Hien
Website: http://www.vietnamairlines.com

Airbus A321 VN-A347 in new livery

Vietnam Airlines is the national flag carrier of Vietnam, and was established as a state enterprise in April 1989.

Vietnam Airlines Corporation was subsequently formed in 1996, after bringing together several service companies. The company is overseen by a seven-seat management board, members of which are appointed by the Prime Minister. Vietnam Airlines used to be the major stakeholder in Vietnam's second carrier, Pacific Airlines, but its share has recently been transferred to the Ministry of Finance.

In the coming years and because tourism to Vietnam is increasing at a rate of approximately 13.7% per annum Vietnam Airlines is hoping to expand its services further to the United Kingdom and United States of America.

1 Destinations
2 Passenger fleet
3 Safety
- 3.1 Fatal mishaps
- 3.2 Non-fatal mishaps
4 Security
- 4.1 Hijackings
5 Training
6 Maintenance
7 Financial standing
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Destinations

Main article: Vietnam Airlines destinations

[edit] Passenger fleet

The Vietnam Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft as of January 2007:

**Vietnam Airlines Fleet**
Type	Total	Passengers (Business/Economy)	Routes	Notes
Airbus A320-200	10	192 (30/162)	Domestic and Regional routes
Airbus A321-200	10 (7 on order)	184 (16/168)	Domestic and Regional routes	(For delivery in 2007 and 2008)
Airbus A330-300	1 2	320 (36/284) 266 (24/242)	Regional and Longhaul routes China / Hong Kong / Japan / Malaysia Singapore and Thailand
Boeing 777-200ER	1 1 4 4	295 (12/283) 325 (35/290) 307 (25/282) 338 (32/306)	Longhaul routes Frankfurt / Moscow / Paris Melbourne / Sydney
Boeing 787-8	(4 on order)			For delivery in 2008
ATR 72-200	6	65 (0/65)	Domestic routes
ATR 72-500	4	65 (0/65)	Domestic routes
Fokker 70	2	79 (0/79)	Domestic routes
Total Number of Aircraft	45 (11 on order)	Updated: January 2007

Boeing 787 in Vietnam Airlines livery

The airline has ordered 4 Boeing 787-8 aircraft to be delivered in 2010 and 10 Airbus A321-200 for deliveries starting from 2006. It plans to use them to expand the route network and replace some of the aircraft currently on lease in the fleet.^[1]). Vietnam Airlines will also lease an ex-Swiss Air Airbus A330 - 300 and 2 ex-Malaysia Airlines A330 - 200 within the year 2006

The average age of the Vietnam Airlines fleet is 6.3 years (as at January 2007)

[edit] Safety

Vietnam Airlines experienced three fatal mishaps in the last 10 years. All fatal accidents have involved Russian-made aircraft, which have since all been phased out. There have been several non-fatal Tupolev Tu-134 mishaps, in which the aircraft crashed during landing, and at least two fatal Yakovlev Yak-40 crashes. Most of these mishaps occurred on final approach or landing. All three fatal crashes occurred in heavy rain.

[edit] Fatal mishaps

3 September 1997: A Vietnam Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 (built in 1984) crashed on approach to Phnom Penh's Pochentong Airport, killing 65 of the 66 passengers on board. The aircraft was entirely destroyed. The aircraft was flying from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh. The Tupolev was approaching the Phnom Penh airport runway in heavy rain from 2,000 meters; at this point the control tower ordered the pilot to attempt an approach from the west due to a wind pick-up. The crew then lost communication with the tower, and three minutes later the aircraft collided at low level with trees, damaging the left wing. The aircraft then slid 200 yards into a dry rice paddy before exploding. Pilot error was later identified as the cause of the crash; the pilot continued his landing descent from an altitude of 2,000 meters to 30 meters even though the runway was not in sight, and ignored pleas from his first officer and flight engineer to turn back. When the aircraft hit the trees, the pilot finally realized the runway was not in sight and tried to abort the approach; the flight engineer pushed for full power, but the aircraft lost control and veered left; the right engine then stalled, making it impossible to gain lift.
14 November 1992: A Yakovlev Yak-40 (built in 1976) originating in Ho Chi Minh City with 31 passengers on board crashed while approaching the Nha Trang Airport in a tropical storm. There were 29 deaths. The aircraft was entirely destroyed.
9 September 1988: A Tupolev Tu-134 departed from Hanoi with 81 passengers aboard and crashed while on approach to Bangkok. There were 76 fatalities and the aircraft was entirely destroyed. The aircraft apparently flew into a heavy thunderstorm and was struck by lightning. The aircraft then exploded after it crashed into a field 4 mi/6 km short of Don Muang International Airport.

[edit] Non-fatal mishaps

17 April 2006: Pilots flying a Boeing 777 from Hanoi to Frankfurt lost communication with ground control for more than an hour as the aircraft flew over Ukraine, Poland and the Czech Republic. After Czech air traffic controllers tried unsuccessfully to contact the plane for 25 minutes, the Czech Air Force sent two jet fighters to flank the airliner. The pilots then realized their mistake and turned the communications system on. The pilots were suspended by the airline and made to undergo more training before they could fly again. It's also been said but denied that the pilots had fallen asleep and the crew are supposed to check on them every fifteen minutes, but they did not. [1]
29 October 2004: A main landing tire burst Airbus A321 after take-off from Bangkok. The aircraft landed in Hanoi on a runway lined with foam. The ATC tower reported smoke coming from the main landing gear. The aircraft was evacuated on the runway. There were no reported injuries.
22 August 2002: An Airbus A320 was forced to make an emergency landing after a bird struck the cockpit window. The mishap occurred shortly after takeoff, and the aircraft was able to safely make an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Passengers were delayed approximately one hour while another aircraft was brought in.
19 July 2002: An Airbus A320, en route from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City, aborted landing after a tire burst while the aircraft was taxiing out to the runway. No injuries were reported.
12 September 1998: A Boeing 767 skidded off the runway during takeoff at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City after the pilot lost directional control of the aircraft. Passengers had to evacuate via emergency chutes. Authorities have been unable to determine the cause of this incident. Several passengers claimed that they saw sparks coming from the engine as it was taxiing down the runway.
16 November 1996: A Vietnam Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashed at Da Nang. The aircraft veered onto the left runway when its landing gear collapsed upon landing.
23 December 1994: A Yakovlev Yak-40 skidded off the runway in bad weather and low visibility at Lien Khuong Airport in Dalat town; only one of its 18 passengers was hurt. The flight originated from Ho Chi Minh City.
25 November 1994: A Tupolev Tu-134 with 40 passengers crashed on landing at Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when its landing gear collapsed. There were no casualties but the aircraft suffered major damage.
1 December 1991: A Tupolev Tu-134 with 76 passengers on board crashed on final approach to Ho Chi Minh City. At 30 feet the Tupolev suddenly lost height and landed hard, touching down with the left main gear first. There were no casualties but the aircraft was entirely destroyed.

[edit] Security

There have been five reported hijackings in Vietnam. Three of these occurred in the 1970s during the Vietnam War on flights of Air Vietnam, the national flag airline managed by South Vietnam. The two other hijackings occurred in 1977 and 1992.

Vietnam Airlines announced a series of measures to step up security in airports and on board aircraft following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, including:

New locking systems on all its aircraft to allow the cockpit to be insulated from the passenger cabin throughout flights.
Additional security personnel at airports and more passenger checks.
New X-ray machines and other screening equipment.

[edit] Hijackings

4 September 1992: Ly Tong, a former pilot in the South Vietnamese air force hijacked an Airbus A310-300 with 167 occupants on board en route from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City. He then dropped anti-communist leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City before parachuting out. Vietnamese security forces later arrested him on the ground. The aircraft landed safely, and no one on board was injured. The hijacker was released from a Hanoi prison in 1998.
28 October 1977: Four armed Vietnamese hijackers seeking asylum in Singapore seized a Douglas DC-3 en route from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc Island with 32 passengers on board. Two of the six crew members were killed and a third was wounded before the aircraft was forced to land in Singapore. The hijackers surrendered after negotiating with Singapore officials for five hours.
15 September 1974: Le Duc Tan, a ranger in the South Vietnamese army who had recently been demoted from captain to lieutenant for the theft of two cars in Da Nang, smooth-talked his way past security checkpoints and hijacked a Boeing 727 en route from Da Nang to Saigon, demanding to go to Hanoi. He detonated two hand grenades, and the aircraft crashed at Phan Rang when it overshot the runway on an attempted landing. All 71 persons on board, including 63 passengers and eight crew members, were killed.
20 February 1974: A Douglas DC-4 was hijacked en route from Da Lat to Da Nang. The hijacker was a 19-year-old South Vietnamese man demanding to go to North Vietnam. When the aircraft landed at Hue, the hijacker realized he had been tricked and detonated a grenade, killing himself and two police officers.
22 July 1970: A U.S. Army private, George M. Hardin, hijacked a DC-4 en route from Pleiku to Saigon. Hardin allowed the 65 passengers aboard to disembark from the plane before moving to the cockpit and threatening the pilot with a small knife. He was detained in Saigon after attempting to force the pilot, Floyd R. Derieux, to take him to Hong Kong, but the pilot told him the DC-4 could not carry enough fuel to make the trip. There were no fatalities.

[edit] Training

According to the Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, a trade association of Asian-based airlines, Vietnam’s aviation industry lacks experience in the realm of pilot and crew training. However, Vietnam Airlines is effecting continual improvements in this field. Vietnam Airlines undertook plans to train 400 pilots shortly after the start of the year 2000.

Transportation of dangerous goods, cabin crew training, CRM (crew resource management) and pilot training are all safety-enhancing programs taught to airline personnel. New Vietnamese pilots are assigned as Western-type aircraft co-pilots. All pilots – both national and foreign – receive biannual simulator training and periodic line checks by Western pilots. A Hanoi-based Airbus cabin mock-up is specifically used for smoke and evacuation training.

Most ATR captains and co-pilots are Vietnamese. Currently, Airbus captains and co-pilots are approximately one-third foreign and two-thirds Vietnamese citizens. All Fokker flight crews are Vietnamese, but instructors and check pilots are expatriates. Most Boeing flight crews are Vietnamese, and about 1/3 are foreign.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam signed a contract with Socfreavia of France to set up a pilot training school in the central province of Phu Yen in late 1998. To date, this has not been completed. Only 40 percent of Vietnam Airlines’ aircraft are captained by Vietnamese citizens, all of whom are required to attend training programs abroad. Many pilots have received training at the General Flying Services in Melbourne, Australia

[edit] Maintenance

Scheduled maintenance intervals are relatively conservative and follow the manufacturers' recommendations. Major engine and propeller maintenance is contracted to qualified overseas maintenance facilities, although a shift to performing more maintenance in-house is currently (as of ?) taking place. There have been no serious maintenance discrepancies with Vietnam Airlines in its history (source ?).

As of 1 July 1998, Vietnam Airlines began conducting its own aircraft repair and maintenance. Vietnamese technicians have since conducted repairs and maintenance of Airbus A320, ATR72 and Fokker aircraft, and began maintenance checks on Boeing aircraft in 1999. The transfer of maintenance and repair work from Airbus to Vietnam Airlines is projected to save the airline US$20 million a year. In August 1998, 15 technicians from the flag carrier took a course on aircraft maintenance and repair at the Boeing Center in Seattle. Vietnam Airlines sent all 45 technicians in mechanical engineering and wireless transmission to Boeing for the course, which ended in 1999. Trainees were issued certificates, which are recognized by Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority. In addition, in June 1998, Boeing signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam Airlines stating that it would, at its own cost, assist Vietnam Airlines in a maintenance and engineering support program to upgrade the aircraft maintenance center at Tan Son Nhat Airport, so that it can become a full capability maintenance center for Boeing 767 aircraft.

In conjunction with other investors, in April 1998, Vietnam Airlines stated it would invest US$1 million to develop an aircraft tire and brake maintenance workshop at the Ho Chi Minh City-based Aircraft Enterprise A75, with the assistance of Japan Airlines. Upon completion, the hangar facility will have a US$16 million tire/wheel/brake overhaul facility and a US$12 million avionics test and repair facility.

Region Air of Singapore and Park Aviation of Ireland provide technical and maintenance assistance to Vietnam Airlines.

There are no production facilities in Vietnam for aircraft and aircraft parts. Boeing has managed to obtain 35 percent of the distribution market in Vietnam, and General Electric, in turn, supplies jet engines for the Boeing aircraft.

In addition to its self-maintenance facilities, Vietnam Airlines also has maintenance contracts with Air France, AMECO of China, China Airlines, Evergreen Aviation Technologies, GAMECO, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co, Lufthansa AERO, MTU Maintenance Hanover, Royal Brunei Airlines, Safe Air of New Zealand, and TAT Industries of France.

[edit] Financial standing

Vietnam Airlines is owned by the government of Vietnam. The carrier has two wholly owned subsidiaries (Vietnam Aviation Service Company (VASCO) and Vietnam Airlines Express). It used to hold 60% stake in Pacific Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines enjoyed good growth and an average 37% increase in passengers flown per year until 1997, when the Southeast Asian economic crisis and other contributing factors led to a loss in profits for the airline. Nevertheless, the airline remained profitable through the crisis. In 1996 and 1997, the airline posted profits exceeding US$100 million each year. In 1998, the airline saw its profit shrink to approximately US$7 million. Profits increased to US$59 million in 1999. Following the September 2001 attacks on the United States, at a time when many airlines were struggling, Vietnam Airlines saw a jump in passenger revenues. The airline carried more than 4 million passengers in 2002, which is an 18 percent rise over the previous year. Its cargo traffic also rose 20 percent in the same period, resulting in a 2002 profit of US$35.77 million. Despite the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, the airline posted a US$26.2 million profit for 2003. In 2005, it carried 6.8 million passengers and earned a revenue of nearly US$1.37 billion (first 11 months).

Vietnam Airlines is enjoying its current financial situation and is planning to increase its fleet size and destinations in the coming years.

Vietnam Airlines holds 40 percent of the market share of international tourists flying to and from Vietnam. This is significant because Vietnam Airlines receives two-thirds of its profits from international passengers.