Viet Nam’s Bamboo Airways warned about overselling tickets

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has ordered Bamboo Airways (QH, Hanoi) not to exceed the number of tickets it sells for the slots it has been allocated, the Vietnamese government’s information news site Báo Chính Phủ reported on April 5. The order instructed Bamboo Airways “to strictly implement ticket sales in accordance with the slots for the number of takeoffs confirmed,” after the authority found that the airline “had a tendency to open sales” that did not match the confirmed slots. The move followed passenger complaints in recent weeks about several flights the airline had allegedly cancelled or delayed, in particular on the route between Hanoi and Da Nang towards the end of March. If the carrier chooses to ignore the warning and continues to oversell, the authority warned, it will not be allocated any further slots for the next six months. On April 3, Bamboo published an apology for “some changes in the flight schedules over a short period in early April,” which it blamed on “the impact of runway repairs” taking place at Hanoi airport. However, representatives of the airport told the government news site that the runway maintenance work had not affected airlines’ flights during the period in question, adding that the airport had now completed the upgrade. On January 25, the civil aviation authority had already issued a written warning to Bamboo Airways, Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi), and VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi) about opening ticket sales that exceeded their confirmed numbers of slots, telling them to stop the practice in time for the annual Tết, or Lunar New Year holiday, which took place on February 1. Bamboo Airways currently deploys its all-leased fleet of 29 aircraft on 54 routes, all of them domestic, the ch-aviation capacities module shows. It operates 247 frequencies on 16 routes from Hanoi, including its 21x weekly service to Da Nang.