Vietnam Airlines foresees a heavy loss this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Nationalflag carrier Vietnam Airlines has forecast a consolidated pre-tax loss for 2020of nearly 15.18 trillion VND (over 650 million USD) due to COVID-19.
At its repeatedly-delayed annual shareholders’meeting on August 10, General Director Duong Tri Thanh said the pandemic hasspread around the world and completely changed the global economy, includingVietnam’s.
The International Air Transport Association haspredicted that traffic levels will fall by 54.7 percent in 2020 compared to2019, revenues will drop 419 billion USD, and airlines will post losses of over84 billion USD. Meanwhile, 11.2 million people will likely lose their jobs in theaviation industry.
Vietnam Airlines plans to suspend flights toEurope and Australia in the time ahead but is also set to resume routes toNortheast Asia and Southeast Asia in October, Thanh noted, with about three tofive flights a week initially.
The domestic aviation market is expected to seemore than 18 million passengers over the remaining months of 2020, equivalentto 90 percent of the figure in the same period last year. The number ofpassengers on domestic routes is forecast at 34.95 million, down 20 percentyear-on-year.
Vietnam Airlines earned a record 100.32 trillion VNDin consolidated revenue last year, up 1.4 percent year-on-year. Consolidatedpre-tax profit also hit an all-time high of almost 3.39 trillion VND, up 2.3percent.
It conducted 135,000 flights carrying 22.9 millionpassengers, with an on-time performance (OTP) rate of some 90 percent, itreported.
The shareholders’ meeting also elected a new board ofdirectors for the tenure 2020-2025. The board has chosen Dang Ngoc Hoa as itshead, replacing Pham Ngoc Minh./.
VNA
