Informing VTC News on the evening of March 19, a representative of Pacific Airlines said that the unit has negotiated with aircraft owners to handle large debts. This is a strategic part of Pacific Airlines' restructuring process.
“Currently, Pacific Airlines has reached an agreement with the ship owners to clear the debts of about 220 million USD. However, Pacific Airlines must fulfill its commitment to return the entire A320 fleet to the ship owners. Therefore, from March 18, 2024, Pacific Airlines has temporarily suspended flights to focus on ensuring the conditions for returning the ships as committed,” said a representative of Pacific Airlines.
By returning 6 planes to its partner, Pacific Airlines' debt of about 220 million USD was cleared. (Illustration photo).
All negotiations with the ship owner were carried out according to pre-planned plans, so Pacific Airlines proactively coordinated with Vietnam Airlines to transfer all passengers who had purchased tickets on Pacific Airlines flights to Vietnam Airlines flights.
The passenger transfer was completed in the first week of March 2024. Currently, all passengers have been transferred to the corresponding flights operated by Vietnam Airlines, and passengers have been fully informed about flight changes through the sales systems of Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines.
"Passenger rights and requests will be guaranteed by Vietnam Airlines through Vietnam Airlines' customer care system," said a representative of Pacific Airlines.
During the suspension of flights, Pacific Airlines will continue to maintain a permanent force at passenger contact points (airports, ticket offices, customer care centers, etc.) to receive and immediately handle any arising requests from passengers.
Pacific Airlines and Vietnam Airlines have been proactively working to develop a plan to add aircraft to Pacific Airlines. The two sides are completing procedures for Pacific Airlines to dry-lease 3 aircraft from Vietnam Airlines to restore operations.
Pacific Airlines and Vietnam Airlines will utilize the available resources of Vietnam Airlines Group to gradually improve the service quality of Pacific Airlines with the goal of building Pacific Airlines into an airline that operates effectively, adapts quickly to the new environment and develops stably in the future.
According to the assessment, this is also a pioneering new path in difficult times for other airlines to look to.
Pacific Airlines is the first low-cost airline in Vietnam, which received investment from Australia's Qantas Group.
In October 2020, Qantas Group completed procedures to withdraw from Pacific Airlines and transferred 30% of its shares to Vietnam Airlines in the form of a gift. By the first quarter of 2022, this deal was completed and Vietnam Airlines has held nearly 99% of the shares in Pacific Airlines since then.
According to Vietnam Airlines' annual report, in 2022, Pacific Airlines recorded total annual revenue of nearly VND 3,487 billion, pre-tax loss of VND 2,096 billion, a loss of VND 212 billion compared to 2021.
With 3 consecutive years of losses of over 2,000 billion VND/year since the COVID-19 period, it is estimated that Pacific Airlines' accumulated loss by the end of 2022 has reached over 10,700 billion VND and negative equity of 6,700 billion VND.
Before March 18, Pacific Airlines leased 6 A320 aircraft, operating domestic flights from North to South, the most popular of which were Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Da Lat and some international flights to major cities around the world such as Bangkok, Taipei, Auckland, Manila, Singapore, Phnom Penh, Sydney,...
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