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Higher fuel price delays Vietjet Air’s flying plan
Vietnam ’s first private airline – Vietjet Air – said it will postpone its first commercial flight until April 2009 because of high fuel prices.
The airline, which received its license in late December 2007, initially planned to operate the first flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh at the end of this year along with those to Bangkok , Hong Kong and Singapore .
“The price of fuel is a thorny problem for all air carriers, not only Vietjet Air,” Vietjet Air General Director Nguyen Duc Tam said.
“The pressure has forced us to calculate more carefully all expenses. If we maintain our flying plan late this year, we will suffer a heavy loss.”
When the airline made the plan, the price of fuel hovered about 70 USD a barrel. Triggered by higher crude oil prices on the world market, fuel price, which accounts for 65 percent of airlines’ production costs, has increased strongly, sometimes to more than 140 USD a barrel.
VNA
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