Viet Nam’s Bamboo Airways raises charter capital – again

Bamboo Airways (QH, Hanoi) continues to increase its registered charter capital, announcing on April 29 a rise to VND16 trillion (USD692 million) from VND12.5 trillion (USD540 million), the third such increase since the beginning of the year. It is the privately-owned carrier’s seventh such hike since its charter capital began in May 2017 with an initial investment of VND700 billion (USD31 million at the time). As previously reported, it had only just raised it on April 15, from VND10.5 trillion (USD454 million). It now has the highest charter capital in Viet Nam’s aviation industry, surpassing Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi), local media reported. The state-owned flag carrier currently has a charter capital of around VND14.1 trillion (USD610 million), VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi) around VND5.4 trillion (USD234 million), and Vietravel Airlines (VU, Hue Phu Bai Int’l) VND700 billion (USD30 million). Earlier this month, its chairman Trinh Van Quyet said that the company was considering an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States in the third quarter of this year, selling off a shareholding of between 5% and 7% to raise up to USD200 million. The airline plans to expand its all-leased fleet to 40 aircraft by the end of 2021. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, it currently operates 31 aircraft, namely one A319-100, six A320-200s, six A320-200Ns, three A321-200s, four A321-200Ns, one A321-200NX, three B787-9s, and one ERJ 190-100LR, with six E195s wet-leased from LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin) and Great Dane Airlines (DW, Aalborg)). It has an additional ten B787-9s on order.