Vietnam Airlines Transported 18 Million Passengers In 2022

This year, Vietnam Airlines carried over 18 million passengers, a significant increase over the previous two. As its recovery continues, the Southeast Asian carrier reached nearly three-quarters of its yearly revenue compared to 2019.

At a recent annual review meeting, Vietnam Airlines CEO Lê Hổng Hà offered an update on the carrier’s yearly performance. The carrier reported revenues of VND72.36 trillion (US$3.02 billion) for 2022, exceeding its combined revenues for 2020 and 2021. The Vietnamese airline handled over 18 million passengers over the past year, up from 6.1 million in 2021, and 211,900 tonnes of cargo.

However, the carrier continues to lose money, projecting a pre-tax yearly loss of around VND9.2 trillion ($389 million). Vietnam Airlines racked up huge losses of nearly $1 billion over the first two years of the pandemic. One positive note is that the airline’s yearly revenues exceeded its projections by over 20%.

Vietnam Airlines issues a warning that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, inflation, rising fuel prices, and the possibility of an economic downturn would continue to have an impact on the airline's operations beyond 2023. To further reduce its losses, it will concentrate on business reorganization, enhancing operational effectiveness, and raising worker productivity.

As Simple Flying reported in May, Vietnam Airlines was at risk of being delisted from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange after incurring nine consecutive quarterly losses. In September, ch-aviation reported that the carrier remained in danger of being delisted having failed to plug its losses.

This is perhaps unfair on the airline, given the unprecedented situation it found itself in over the COVID pandemic. CEO Lê Hổng Hà added that the airline is narrowing its losses while contending with rising fuel costs and unfavorable exchange rates, but the risk of delisting remains.

Vietnam Airlines has added approximately 500 flights to its schedule having seen a boom in demand for its services during the upcoming Tet holiday period. The carrier will offer up to 90,000 additional seats on several domestic routes around Vietnam’s New Year holiday period, which begins on January 22nd.

A Vietnam Airlines spokesperson reportedly told The Star that passengers are booking flights with earlier departure times than normal. Since August and earlier this month, the airline has increased frequencies twice, adding millions of tickets to its domestic and international flights.

In addition, Vietnam Airlines just started operating again after a nearly three-year absence, serving both China and Hong Kong. If demand continues in the upcoming months, depend on the airline to increase frequency to both nations.