Vietnam Airlines to buy six ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft

Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier of Vietnam, has signed a $112-million contract to buy six ATR 72-500 turboprop planes from ATR, despite falling tourism in the country, with a view to modernising its fleet of short-haul turboprop aircraft.

Photo: Vietnam Airlines ATR 72-500 plane

ATR is a joint venture between the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), a large European aerospace corporation headquartered Schiphol-Rijk in the Netherlands, and Finmeccanica, the high-tedch industrial group based in Italy.

A statement from ATR said the ATR 72-500 aircraft is powered by PW-127M engines and will feature the latest navigation aid and communication tools. The aircraft will also be equipped with the ‘Elegance’ cabin. The ATR 500 series aircraft have low noise levels and the lowest fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emission per passenger in the market, the company claimed.

The first of the ATR 72-500 planes from ATR would be delivered to Vietnam Airlines in June 2009 and the last one would arrive in February 2010, Pham Ngoc Minh, CEO of Vietnam Airlines, said at the signing ceremony held in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The contract followed a deal by Vietnam Airlines of 5 ATR 72 planes signed in December 2007.

“With the purchase of 6 more ATR 72-500 planes, we will satisfy the increasing demand for services on short-haul routes,” Pham Ngoc Minh said.

Vietnam Airlines Corporation, initially established as a state enterprise in April 1989, was subsequently revamped in 1993 by bringing together several service companies. The airline used to be the major stakeholder in Vietnam’s second largest carrier, Pacific Airlines, but its share was recently transferred to the Ministry of Finance and then subsequently to the State Capital Investment Corporation. Vietnam Airlines wholly owns Vietnam Air Service Company (VASCO), a regional airline in southern Vietnam.

According to Vietnam Airlines CEO Pham Ngoc Minh, the airline would gradually replace the old-model ATR 72-200 planes between July 2009 and May 2010 with the new-model ATR 72-500s and would have a total of 14 ATR 72-500 planes by 2010 “in preparation for the recovery of the aviation market.”

“Air travel demand,” Minh said, “is accelerating rapidly from Vietnam’s three largest cities to tourist spots such as the beach resort of Nha Trang, the southern island of Phu Quoc and the Lao former royal capital of Luang Prabang. The new purchases would also help the airline to prepare for the recovery of the aviation market after the current global slump and would give Vietnam Airlines the biggest fleet of ATR aircraft in South-east Asia.”

At present, Vietnam Airlines –which is striving to boost falling tourist arrivals in Vietnam caused by the global financial crisis – has 50 aircraft in its fleet, including three ATR 72-500 planes and seven ATR 72-200 planes.

In all, 3.9 million foreigners visited Vietnam during the first 11 months of 2008 – up by a mere 1.1% from the same in 2007, when the country reported an annual tourist arrival growth of 17%.

The website avionews.com quoted officials of the Vietnamese government as saying that tourism, nonetheless, is expected to generate $2 billion in revenues in 2008.