Hanoi (VNA) - The Board of Directors of the VietnamAirlines Corporation has appointed Deputy General Director Le Hong Ha to thepost of General Director from January 1, 2021.
Ha, born in 1972, began working for Vietnam Airlines in 1994. He wasappointed as Deputy General Director of the corporation in 2012, becoming theyoungest person to hold the position.
He has also been Chairman of the Members Council of the Vietnam AirPetro Company Limited (Skypec) since 2018. In August 2020, Ha was elected tothe Board of Directors of Vietnam Airlines.
Vietnam Airlines anticipated a loss of 12 trillion VND (520 millionUSD) in 2020, or 2.42 trillion VND lower than previous prediction, it said atthe extraordinaryshareholders’ meeting on December 29.
According to Chairman of Vietnam Airlines Dang Ngoc Hoa,although the corporation has been hard hit by the pandemic, its businessachievement is better than expected.
As of the end of December, the corporation’s consolidatedrevenue is estimated at 42.5 trillion VND, with parent company’s revenuestopping 32.9 trillion VND, exceeding the targets set at the shareholders’meeting on August 10 by 4.8 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.
This year’s loss could be slashed further by 2.86 trillionVND when the corporation completed adjustments for depreciation anddistribution of repair and maintenance costs in line with the Government’ssupport policy.
The corporation, consisting of the national flag carrierVietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines and Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO),operated 96,500 flights, and transported some 14.23 million passengers andnearly 194,500 tonnes of cargo in 2020. Besides, more than 180 flightswere arranged to bring home over 52,000 Vietnamese expats from 30 countries andterritories worldwide.
Hoa attributed the corporation’s better-than-expectedperformance to the nation’s good control of the COVID-19 pandemic, stablebusiness environment, timely support from the Government, and its drastic measuresto re-organise operation and cut expenditure.
During 2021-2025, Vietnam Airlines will focus on restoringbusiness activities, undertaking comprehensive restructuring plan which includerestructuring of capital ownership and finance, assets and portfolios.
Hoa said, the corporation will work to improve businessefficiency with the sell and leaseback (SLB) of aircraft, as well as wholly orpartly divest capital in enterprises with excellent performance with a view tobetter cash flow.
The government, through the State Capital InvestmentCorporation (SCIC), is holding over 86 percent of shares in the company, whileJapanese aviation company ANA Holdings has an 8.7 percent stake, and otherorganisational and individual investors own the remainder./.