HANOI -Vietnam's flag-carrier, Vietnam Airlines, plans to more than double its
fleet in the next six years, airline officials said last week.
"We need
30 to 40 aircraft by the end of this century, including all types," the
airline's deputy director-general, Nguyen Duc Vinh, told a press
briefing.
Planes made by the European concern Airbus Industries and
Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas of the United States were all being considered for
the main requirement, medium-haul planes for key domestic and regional routes,
he said.
Apart from ageing Soviet-built Tupolev and Yak-40 airliners
relegated to domestic routes, Vietnam Airlines has nine aircraft at present -
five Airbus A-320s leased from Air France, two Boeing 767s leased from Ansett
Airlines and two ATR-72s it owns.
Vinh said the airline could not
indicate which manufacturer would win contracts. Decisions would be based on the
planes themselves, training, maintenance, after-sales service, credit and
financial conditions.
On other issues, he said Vietnam Airlines planned
to start flying to Japan by the end of 1994, but it wanted to use Tokyo's Narita
Airport and Japan was refusing permission.
Vinh said Vietnam Airlines
expected the United States to be a big market once the two governments had
established diplomatic relations and had signed an air services
agreement.-Reuters
