A view of Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Vingroup establishes its own airline, entering a highly competitive air transport market

The new airline is headquartered at the Vinhomes Riverside urban area in Hanoi City.

On May 29, the business registration office under the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment allowed Vingroup to rename its property and tourism arm VinAsia Development Service and Trading JSC as Vinpearl Air JSC. Accordingly, Vinpearl Air will specialize in the aviation sector.

The company’s legal representative is Nguyen Thanh Huong, holding the post of general director.

The new entity currently has three shareholders, including VinAsia Tourism Development JSC, Hoang Quoc Thuy and Pham Khac Phuong, contributing 45%, 30% and 25%, respectively, to Vinpearl Air.

According to Dan Tri news site, Vingroup has also signed a cooperation agreement with Canada’s CAE Group to train pilots and other employees in the aviation sector. Vingroup expected to have 400 pilots and engineers meeting international standards a year.

Speaking with The Saigon Times today via phone, Vo Huy Cuong, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, said CAAV has not yet received an application for Vinpearl Air.

The newcomer to the domestic aviation market will stoke up the competitiveness of the market and provide customers with more choices. However, it will put more pressure on the country’s poor aviation infrastructure.

Vingroup will have to get the approval from the Ministry of Transport and the prime minister before putting its carrier into official operation.

Currently, Vietnam has five airlines: Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific, Vietjet Air, Vietnam Air Services Company (a subsidiary of Vietnam Airlines) and Bamboo Airways. In addition, procedures to establish Vietravel Airlines, Vinpeal Air and Thien Minh are being completed.

In related news, Vingroup and T&T Group have expressed their interest in developing some sections of the second, third and fifth metro line projects in Hanoi, Thanh Nien Online newspaper reported.

Nguyen Manh Quyen, director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment, said Vingroup is completing the prefeasibility reports for a section from Tran Hung Dao to Thuong Dinh streets of the metro line No. 2 project and a section from Van Cao Street to Ho Tay (West Lake) of the metro line No. 5 project.

The group will submit these reports to the Government and the National Assembly for consideration and approval.

Meanwhile, T&T Group is drawing up the prefeasibility report for a section between Troi and Nhon stations of the metro line No. 3 project.

Hanoi has planned nine metro line projects but only two of them have been kicked off. In addition, these two projects have fallen behind schedule and faced cost overruns and obstacles in administrative procedures. SGT

Lan Nhi

Vingroup to open aviation training facilities

The private conglomerate Vingroup will work with the CAE Oxford Aviation Academy to establish its VinAviation School and Vinpearl Air Training Centre in Vietnam, with enrollment expected to open this August.

Vingroup builds another smartphone factory

Vietnam’s real estate-tech-retail giant Vingroup started construction on its smart phone factory - the second of its kind - in Hanoi on June 10.