Indochina Airlines has returned its only plane and extended service suspension until mid December as it continued to run up huge debts and sell very few tickets, an aviation official said.
Vo Huy Cuong, head of the Aviation Transport Department at the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, said in an interview with Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon Online that the nation’s only private airline could not relaunch flights on Wednesday as planned after a month-long suspension.
The prolonged suspension was because the airline couldn’t make profits from its business, he said.
Indochina Airlines, which opened in November last year, was using only one airplane, a Boeing 737-800, on the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City route after it closed all others. The airplane was sent back to its service provider on Tuesday.
“Indochina Airlines said it will resume service on December 15. However, we are still waiting for an official report about its financial problems including debts of more than VND30 billion to service providers.”
If the private airline can’t resume its service by January 1 next year, the administration will revoke its license, Cuong said.
He said although the air travel market was facing difficulties, carriers could still run effective businesses if they had sufficient financial resources.
Source: Thanh Nien