Vietnam aviation industry needs more financial help to recover

Vietnam needs policies to support and remove difficulties for domestic airlines to regain their growth momentum in the post-Covid recovery period, transport experts said on Tuesday. At the seminar "Restoring and developing Vietnam's aviation industry in a new context" organised by Communist Review, in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport (MoT), experts said the air transport industry has been seriously affected and they urge the government to create the market and the development corridor as a key to return to the growth trajectory of the aviation industry. Đinh Việt Thắng, director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam (CAAV) said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the development of the aviation industry and caused negative consequences for units in the air transport chain, especially the national airline Vietnam Airlines.” He added Vietnam's aviation market dropped sharply in the 2020-21 period with a decrease of 42.1% and 80% respectively compared to 2019. At the same time, Thắng said the local airlines have had to struggle, manage and implement all self-advocacy solutions as well as receive support from State management agencies to maintain operations until the market recovers. The director assessed that by 2022 the aviation market had signs of recovery, especially the domestic market, which is a positive signal for the operation of the aviation industry, contributing to mitigating difficulties and creating favourable conditions for the aviation industry and momentum for recovery and development in the coming years. However, he said, signs of recovery were only seen in the domestic market. The international market, which brings more than 60 per cent of revenue for Vietnamese airlines, is still facing many difficulties compared to the pre-epidemic level in 2019.<br/>