Vietjet posts $39.8 mln loss

Budget airline Vietjet has recorded a loss of nearly VND925 billion ($39.83 million) in the first nine months due to pandemic-imposed flight restrictions. The second-largest airline in Vietnam in terms of market share saw Jan-Sept revenues fall 64 percent year-on-year to VND13.78 trillion, according to its Q3 financial statement.

Vietjet served over three million passengers in the third quarter and opened eight new domestic routes, bringing the total number of routes to 52.

However, the second Covid-19 outbreak in the last week of July and throughout August brought down travel demand again, resulted in Q3 revenues falling nearly 80 percent year-on-year to VND2.8 trillion. The total number of domestic flights plunged 35 percent to just over 15,000 in this period.

The budget carrier has been increasing the number of cargo flights to make up for dwindling revenues from passenger flights and increase the application of the self-service system at the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi to lower costs.

Last year Vietjet posted a pre-tax profit of VND5.01 trillion, down 14 percent from 2018.