Indochina Air looks for new investors
Do Anh Tuan told that Indochina Airlines was finding new local investors to pump fresh capital investments to prop up the ailing airline. “We are calling for new investors and give priority to local investors,” Tuan said amidst news that Indochina Airlines had not been able to operate its only aircraft, a Boeing B737-800, because of prolonged debt.
Tuan explained that the Boeing was undergoing routine checks at Aircraft Maintenance Workshop A75 at Tan Son Nhat Airport and that these checks had lasted longer than scheduled as technical problems were discovered.
What matters is that Indochina Airlines did not receive the new Boeing B737-800 on October 22 as promised by its European aircraft leasing partner. Tuan attributed this delay to the fact that the airline now had no aircraft to fly.
Tuan said Indochina Airlines had to send all its passengers to Vietnam Airlines, in accordance with an agreement it signed with the national carrier earlier this year, until next Monday, the day the private airline expects its only aircraft will be able to take off again.
Tuan said Indochina Airlines had mapped out two plans to operate five Hanoi-HCMC flights and one HCMC-Danang flight a day, or four on the first route and two on the second, when the airline received one more aircraft in the last week of November.
Indochina Airlines was licensed in May, 2008 with initial capital of VND200 billion as required by Vietnam’s civil aviation regulations for an airline to operate domestic flights.
