Vietnam Airlines CEO speaks out about risk of delisting

Responding to a question from Lao Dong Newspaper on December 28, Mr. Le Hong Ha, General Director of Vietnam Airlines, said that in the past, the unit had fully and regularly reported to the Ministry of Finance, the Government, and the Securities Commission about situations related to listing on the stock exchange.

“Vietnam Airlines is overcoming the consequences of COVID-19. In particular, the airline is focusing on restructuring projects. The programs have been developed. The unit is also working with the Capital Management Committee to report to the Government and ministries for approval of implementation,” Mr. Le Hong Ha emphasized.

Previously, Mr. Tran Thanh Hien, Chief Accountant of Vietnam Airlines admitted that it is true that in the past, Vietnam Airlines' financial report showed that the unit had suffered losses for 3 consecutive years, with negative equity. This put the financial situation at risk of being delisted from the HOSE.

However, the situation leading to 3 consecutive years of losses and negative equity is very special, which is the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before COVID-19, Vietnam Airlines had a large capitalization and healthy finances… on the HOSE. However, since 2019, due to the impact of COVID-19, airlines around the world have been in a difficult situation.

Mr. Tran Thanh Hien hopes that the State agency will objectively consider this issue and expects Vietnam Airlines to remain listed on the stock exchange.

"Vietnam Airlines also has a specific plan and expects to make a profit in the near future, from which equity will be positive, bringing the financial status to safety," Mr. Tran Thanh Hien said earlier.

Speaking at the 2023 Year-end Conference of the Ministry of Transport, Chairman of Vietnam Airlines Dang Ngoc Hoa shared many difficulties that airlines in general and Vietnam Airlines in particular will face in 2023. The COVID-19 pandemic has been pushed back, but the world is facing many new problems, especially geopolitical conflicts and economic recessions in countries and regions.

The air transport business of airlines is also facing many difficulties when input factors are very unfavorable. The price of jet fuel is very high, about 105 USD/barrel in 2023, 30% higher than in 2019, causing the costs of airlines to increase by thousands of billions of VND. Vietnam Airlines alone increased by 60 billion VND compared to 2019.

Exchange rates also fluctuated unfavorably as the airlines' main revenue currencies, such as Japanese and Korean won, depreciated against the airlines' cost currency, the dollar.

By the end of 2023, Vietnam Airlines will have restored 90% of its international flight network, completely restored its domestic flight network, and continued to open new routes to India and Australia.

In summary, the airline has operated more than 130,000 safe flights, transported over 21 million passengers, reduced losses by more than half compared to 2022, and contributed more than 3,000 billion VND to the state budget.

2024 is considered a very important year. Vietnam Airlines will continue to promote its mission as a national airline, maintain market share on key routes, expand international routes, and plan to open a series of transcontinental routes to Canada, Italy, and Nordic countries; At the same time, ensure balanced production and business activities, strongly restructure the organization, optimize production processes, thoroughly apply digital transformation, restructure the flight network, adjust the flight network, and diversify sales programs.

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