Viet Nam’s Bamboo Airways raises charter capital to $455mn

Bamboo Airways (QH, Hanoi) has conducted its fifth charter capital increase so far, raising it by about one third to VND10.5 trillion dong (USD455 million), up by VND3.5 trillion (USD152 million), it revealed in a statement on February 23. The Vietnamese leisure-focused carrier, in which the travel holding FLC Group currently holds a 51.29% stake, commenced flight operations in early 2019 and has expanded rapidly despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month it posted a pre-tax profit for 2020 of over VND400 billion (USD17.4 million), up 34% from 2019, having carried over four million passengers during 2020, a 40% increase from the previous year. Bamboo Airways’ charter capital began with an initial investment of VND700 billion (USD31 million at the time), rising to VND1.3 trillion (USD56 million) in September 2019, which under Vietnamese government rules is the minimum capital for an airline to operate 30 aircraft on domestic and international flights. This has increased steadily since then, including the previous rise, in October 2020, to VND7 trillion (USD300 million). According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Bamboo Airways currently operates a fleet of 29 aircraft (one A319-100, six A320-200s, five A320-200Ns, three A321-200s, four A321-200Ns, one A321-200NX, three B787-9s, one ERJ 190-100LR, three ERJ 190-200ARs, and two ERJ 190-200LRs). It plans to expand to a total of 50 aircraft this year. Low-cost carrier VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi) was the only other Vietnamese airline to post a profit for 2020, at VND123 billion (USD5.3 million), while majority-state-owned Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi) bled a heavy pre-tax loss of VND10.88 trillion (USD470 million).