This is an activity within the plan to unify the aircraft fleet, in line with the restructuring project that Bamboo Airways reported to the Government at the end of November 2023.
Bamboo Airways' fleet will have only 8 aircraft from April
Specifically, Bamboo Airways and its aircraft leasing partner have reached an agreement to terminate the lease contract for three Embraer E190 aircraft early after the winter flight schedule ends at the end of March. Thus, from April, the airline will stop operating all or part of its routes using Embraer E190 aircraft, including from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao, Hue and from Hanoi to Dong Hoi. Instead, it will focus on operating the North-South routes between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang and other domestic localities with large market capacity.
Explaining the early termination of the Embraer E190 lease contract, a representative of Bamboo Airways informed: The Embraer E190 is a small jet aircraft manufactured in Brazil, which is considered by experts to be no longer suitable for the Vietnamese aviation market in particular and Asia in general. The aircraft is capable of taking off and landing on short runways - this type of airport is currently very rare in Vietnam - the whole country has only 3 such airports in Con Dao, Ca Mau and Rach Gia. Of which, the 2 airports of Con Dao and Rach Gia have been oriented to expand and lengthen the runway to receive Airbus A320/321.
On the other hand, the Embraer E190 has high fuel consumption (almost equal to the Airbus A320/321) while the number of passengers it can carry is only half, which is inefficient in the current context of high oil prices. At the same time, it is not suitable for the world trend of reducing fossil fuel consumption, moving towards fuel-saving technologies or using environmentally friendly aviation fuel.
In addition, there is no Embraer E190 aircraft in Vietnam and the region. Therefore, aircraft maintenance, procurement of supplies and equipment is very complicated and expensive (mainly with technical facilities located in Europe). Training and periodic training for pilots must also be carried out abroad, while in Vietnam there is available infrastructure for aircraft maintenance, training and education for the A320/321 aircraft. In particular, under the conditions of domestic airfare ceiling regulations, this type of aircraft causes huge losses for Bamboo Airways' air transport operations and has no opportunity to improve business efficiency.
"Most of the airports operated by Bamboo Airways with Embraer aircraft are included in the investment and expansion plans of the Government and authorities to accommodate larger aircraft, serving the needs of a large number of domestic and international passengers. This is also an orientation in line with Bamboo Airways' strategy of unifying its fleet structure. It is expected that after completing the upgrade of the above niche airports, Bamboo Airways will resume operations with larger and more modern aircraft, suitable for actual conditions," said a representative of the airline.
Along with the cessation of Boeing B787-9 aircraft from November 2023, Bamboo Airways will only operate narrow-body Airbus A320/321 aircraft on its domestic and regional international flight network, in accordance with its chosen strategy and business model. Bamboo Airways' passenger fleet will consist of only 8 A320/321 aircraft from April, expected to increase to 12-15 of the same type by the end of this year if financial and market conditions are favorable.
Bamboo Airways is currently the only airline operating direct flights from Hanoi to Con Dao. The first flight officially took place on September 29, 2020, shortening the travel time for people from the Northern region to the "sacred land" of Con Dao to only 2 hours, instead of having to travel 2 stages (connecting flights in Ho Chi Minh City) the fastest is 5 hours, the longest is 7, 8 hours.
In recent days, many travel companies have also informed customers about Bamboo Airways' plan to stop operating this route and sell tickets for the last flights. Currently, Bamboo Airways' direct flight tickets from Hanoi to Con Dao are still on sale until the end of March, with extremely high ticket prices. There are only a few days left with flexible economy tickets priced at 4.2 million VND/way, most days only have business class tickets available, priced at nearly 8 million VND/way.
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