Air travel surges 20 percent in 9 months

The aviation market in the first nine months saw a year-on-year increase of more than 20 percent in the number of passengers, estimated the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam. The administration estimated that roughly 15 million passengers went through the country's airports in the first nine months of this year, of which Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific and Vietnam Air Service Co (Vasco) accounted for more than 11 million. In the first nine months, the administration also estimated that roughly 340,000 tonnes of goods were transported via air, an increase of 36 percent over the same period last year. Industry insiders forecast the country's aviation market in the last quarter will continue to surge due to an increased number of flights licensed by the aviation authorities for foreign airlines including Turkish Airlines, Poland's LOT and Qatar Airways. Vo Huy Cuong, director of the administration's Air Transport Department, attributed the steady growth to the continuing strong expansion of the domestic segment backed by flagship carrier Vietnam Airlines. Cuong said that Vietnam Airlines and its subsidiary Vasco still account for the lion's share of around 80 percent of the domestic market while the rest is covered by Jetstar Pacific. With the introduction of Air Mekong and Blue Sky Air recently, which lifts the number of operational airlines in the country to nine, it is expected that the competition in the domestic aviation market will increase. The administration expects that the country's overall aviation market will grow roughly 20 percent in 2010, higher than the 14 percent figure it projected earlier this year, thanks to more domestic services and a significant increase in the number of international visitors. The administration's statistics showed that roughly 26.2 million passengers and 445,800 tonnes of cargo were transported by air last year, four times higher than in 2000.