Pacific Airlines, Vietnam's second-largest, expects revenues to double this year to $145 million as it joins Australia's Jetstar to explore domestic and regional markets, its chief executive officer said.
Pacific Airlines will become Jetstar Pacific next month, adding five aircraft to its fleet this year and another five in 2009 to serve new routes at home and to nearby countries in Asia, Luong Hoai Nam told Reuters in an interview.
"Demand for flights on domestic markets is like a barrel without bottom," Nam said on the sidelines of an event to launch the Jetstar brand and the new partnership.
Jetstar is the low-cost airline of Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd Qantas bought an 18 percent stake in Pacific Airlines last year and will increase its holding to 30 percent by 2010, Qantas said. Vietnam has forecast air passenger traffic to more than double to 32.4 million people by 2020 from nearly 15 million last year.
The country has been opening up its aviation sector to foreign investment after joining the World Trade Organisation last year.
Aircraft shortage has been a major cause behind flight delays in Vietnam as business and travel demand grows in an economy expected to grow as much as 7.5 percent this year.
Nam said Pacific Airlines had revenues of $65 million in 2007. He declined to provide any profit figures. Jetstar Pacific will add three new routes inside Vietnam in June, expanding Pacific Airlines' flights to seven destinations with four Boeing 737 aircraft, it said in a statement.
"We will also fly to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok," Nam said. The new airlines said it will add up to 30 Airbus A320 planes to expand its fleet by 2014, with the first to enter in August.
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