How is the Long Thanh hangar 'pie' 'divided'?

The above-mentioned hangar system belongs to the Component 4 Project of Long Thanh International Airport. According to the results of the selection of investors for the construction and business of aircraft maintenance services announced by the Ministry of Transport (formerly) at the end of last year, VAECO - a member enterprise of Vietnam Airlines won the bid for 2/4 projects (lot 1 and lot 4) at this airport. Vietnam Airlines intends to continue investing in the remaining 2 lots.

Aircraft maintenance service is like a "piece of cake", any company that owns it will have a huge competitive advantage in the transportation business, especially for those companies with a large fleet of aircraft.

Currently, there are 5 airlines in the country, but only Vietnam Airlines has a hangar. Vietjet - a private airline, with the number of aircraft almost "catching up" with Vietnam Airlines, has not yet established a hangar in Vietnam, and must send aircraft abroad for maintenance, which takes time and costs a lot.

Regarding this issue, on March 20, after inspecting the progress of component projects at Long Thanh Airport, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assigned the Ministry of Construction to base on legal regulations, make decisions within its authority, ensure equal access, and healthy competition among enterprises in the investment process; in the spirit of putting national and ethnic interests above all, and absolutely not allowing "lobbying", "begging", and corruption here.

Accordingly, the Ministry was assigned a plan to select investors in special cases for Vietnam Airlines to deploy construction and business of aircraft maintenance services at lots 1 and 2; and assigned Vietjet Air to invest in construction and business of aircraft maintenance services at lots 3 and 4.

Without a hangar in Vietnam, Vietjet cannot be proactive in ensuring technical safety for its fleet of nearly a hundred aircraft.

Without the above-mentioned close and timely guidance, it is very likely that private enterprises will have difficulty accessing the project, even though the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam had previously proposed that the Ministry of Transport (formerly) add two more hangars, No. 5 and No. 6, to create opportunities for domestic airlines.

“In the context that our Party considers private economic development as a “lever” for the country to develop prosperously, creating conditions for non-state enterprises, on the basis of compliance with legal regulations, to participate in this “playground” is necessary, ensuring healthy competition and adding resources to promote the strong development of the aviation industry in the future,” a leader of the Ministry of Construction told a reporter of the Vietnam Law Newspaper.

According to statistics, domestic airlines currently own nearly 200 aircraft. Of which, Vietnam Airlines has 95 aircraft, Vietjet Air has 92 aircraft. The rest belong to Bamboo, Pacific, and Vietravel.

With a fleet equal to Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet's efforts to pursue the investment project of building a hangar at a large airport like Long Thanh is understandable for the development roadmap of an airline in the aviation market.

On the other hand, in 2024, after Bamboo restructured its business, the part of the market it left behind made the competition for market share between the two leading airlines in Vietnam even more exciting.

Vietnam Airlines is the only airline that is self-sufficient in aircraft maintenance, with 2 hangars at Noi Bai and 4 hangars at Tan Son Nhat. Vietjet does not have any hangars, but is promoting investment in Long Thanh and recently proposed to invest in a hangar at Da Nang Airport.

Vu Lanh

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/mieng-banh-hangar-long-thanh-duoc-chia-the-nao-post543936.html