Vietravel Airlines and Asean Cargo Gateway partner on new cargo airline in Vietnam

Vietnam’s Vietravel Airlines aims to launch a new cargo airline in cooperation with logistics service Asean Cargo Gateway (ACG).

With stakes of 51% and 49% in VUAir Cargo respectively, Vietravel Airlines and ACG anticipate the first year of operations will see the airline focus on transporting goods between Vietnam and large factories in Asian countries including China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

VUAir Cargo will use a fleet of up to four Boeing B737-800F freighters in the first year, said Vietravel Airlines in a press release. The fleet is expected to double in the next year.

Vietravel did not provide a start date for cargo services.

Vietravel Airlines, owned by the Vietravel Holdings, and ACG aim to use the cargo airline to improve air transport logistics and diversify air cargo products in the region.

Vu Duc Bien, general director of Vietravel Airlines, said: “According to Vietravel Airlines, the aviation cargo market still has a lot of potential and has not been fully exploited.

“More specifically, the concern about broken supply chains is increasing while the goods market in Vietnam with China and other countries in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas is growing.

“The region has the highest annual GDP growth in the world and the highest proportion of the working-age population in the world.

“Therefore, production facilities will gradually move to this area next to the world’s largest factory, China.

“Through the assessment, Vietnam is considered a bright and potential candidate in the production shift.

“This will be an opportunity for the logistics industry in general and airfreight in particular to take off in the near future.

“Therefore, this is the right time to build and promote the first Air Cargo segment in Vietnam, combining ACG’s experience in logistics and Vietravel’s air transportation. Airlines.”

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s IPP Air Cargo is edging closer to its first flight as work nears completion on the conversion of its first freighter aircraft.

In an update last month, the airline’s operations, leasing and procurement advisor Brian Thomas Hogan said that work on its first B737-800 conversion was nearing completion at MRO Gameco.