HANOI, Jul 29 (NNN-VNA) – Vietnamese carriers are struggling with slot retention, in a declining market, with some airlines having to operate flights with low seat occupancy to keep the slots, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAA).
The aviation market has not fully recovered to the pre-pandemic level, and airlines struggled to retain slot usage rate at foreign airports, which is a challenge, due to low market demand, local newspaper Vietnam News reported yesterday, citing CAA’s director, Dinh Viet Thang.
According to Dinh Viet Phuong from Vietjet, airlines are facing difficulties, as the number of flights increased, but the number of passengers did not, and the seat utilisation ratio decreased to low purchasing power and low demand.
The number of international visitors increased compared to 2022, but had not reached the pre-pandemic level, he said.
The travelling demand from North-east Asia was below expectations, with some flights from Japan having occupancy rates of only 40 percent, even though it is meant to be peak season, he said.
Vietnam’s aviation market served about 34.7 million passengers in the first half of this year, up 49.6 percent year-on-year, according to the CAA. International passengers totalled 14.7 million, equivalent to 73.5 percent of the same period in 2019.– NNN-VNA
