VietNamNet Bridge – Rumors have been spread out that Air
Mekong, a private airline, may have to stop flying because of the big debts it
cannot pay to partners.
Providing its first commercial
flight in late 2010, Air Mekong has incurred the bigger loss than estimated,
becoming a big debtor of aviation service providers.
Air Mekong has to stop flying?
A senior executive of Vinapco,
the air petrol provider, on January 3 confirmed with Nguoi lao dong’s reporters
that Air Mekong recently cannot make payment for fuel on schedule. Therefore,
Vinapco has sent a document to the management agencies to report about this.
It seems that Vinapco has taken a
cautious step when reporting the case to the watchdog agency. If Air Mekong
continues refusing to pay debts, Vinapco would stop providing air petrol to Air
Mekong under the business contract signed between the two sides, while it would
not be accused of “deliberately interrupting air traffic.”
Vinapco has learned the lesson
from a similar case some years ago. At that time, Vinapco stopped providing air
petrol to an airline which also could not pay debts, leading to the
interruption of the flights which then raised strong opposition from the
public.
The representative of Air Mekong
declined to reveal how much the airline owes to Vinapco, saying that the two
parties still need to sit together to discuss the issue before a final figure
is released.
He said that Air Mekong has
committed to pay debts prior to January 15. Meanwhile, the airline has been
guaranteed by a commercial bank. Therefore, Vinapco has agreed to freeze the
old debts and continue providing fuel, provided that Air Mekong pays for fuel
everyday.
Currently, Air Mekong buys VND1.3
billion dong worth of petrol a day to get enough fuel for its fleet of four
airplanes.
Rumor has been spread that Air
Mekong would have to stop providing flights for a certain period. Air Mekong’s
booking agents have informed that they only have the air tickets for the
flights until February 28, 2013.
The passengers, who access to
www.airmekong.com.vn, or book ticket directly at booking agents, all have been
told that air tickets for March have not been available, because it is still
unclear about flight schedule in March.
Meanwhile, other airlines
including Jetstar Pacific, VietJet Air have air tickets for the flights until
July already. Especially, the national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines has
air tickets until December 2013.
An official of the Civil Aviation
Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has confirmed that CAAV has received the complaints
from some service providers about the payment delays by Air Mekong.
However, when asked about why Air
Mekong only has tickets until the end of February, he said that the ticket sale
program still depends on the seasonable flight schedules of air carriers.
Another private airline fails?
Air Mekong is the third private
airline licensed in Vietnam, after VietJet Air and Indochina Airlines.
Indochina Airlines, the first
private airline in Vietnam, began incurring loss just six months after the
first commercial flight. It also could not pay for air petrol and had its
operation license revoked due to the serious financial problems.
However, it is still too early to
say about the fate of Air Mekong. Meanwhile, analysts say the airline has been
backed by powerful investors, who would not let the air carrier fall into the
worst situation.
Air Mekong has the initial chartered
capital of VND280 billion. In June 2012, it announced the plan to increase the
chartered capital to VND600 billion with the ceremony of signing a cooperation
agreement with a commercial bank.
In the latest news, Air Mekong
has denied the insolvency. In the press released on January 4, Air Mekong
affirmed it does not have overdue debts to Vinapco.
US$1=VND21,000
NLD
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