First competition-related lawsuit to be tried

The National Competition Council will hear behind closed doors the case in which the Vietnam Aviation Petroleum Company (Vinapco) stopped supplying fuel to Pacific Airlines, presently known as Jetstar Pacific, on April 14.

This will be the first case related to competition restrictions judged by the National Competition Council.

The story began on April 1, 2008 when Vinapco stopped providing fuel to Jetstar Pacific, which didn’t agree with Vinapco’s fuel charging fee increase.

Vinapco’s act paralyzed thirty flights of Jetstar Pacific, affecting around 5,000 passengers. This is considered as a rare case in the aviation sector.

Jetstar Pacific sent an urgent dispatch to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport asking for intervention.

An official from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the consequence of the case was basically solved thanks to the intervention of related agencies. However, it must be tried in court to know who is at fault, and Vinapco may have to explain first.

Related to fuel supplies, Vinapco complained to many state agencies about a newly-established private airline, which owes Vinapco more than VND 10 billion (US $588,000) as an overdue debt.

vietnamnet, tp

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