Vietravel Airlines mulls in-house freighters

Vietravel Airlines (VU, Hue Phu Bai Int’l) is considering entering the cargo market with in-house dedicated freighters, building on the success of its current charter agreement with My Indo Airlines (2Y, Jakarta Halim) covering services between Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Cargo Facts has reported. The Vietnamese start-up launched on January 14, 2021, and currently operates three A321-200s on an exclusively domestic network within Vietnam. It is owned by tour operator Vietravel and intends to focus on the leisure market going forward, including through charter services. Even though the Vietnamese market is among the world leaders in terms of recovery, thanks to strong domestic demand and lack of opportunities for foreign travel, the carrier has elected to tap into the booming cargo market as well. Since March 10, it has been chartering a B737-300(F) from My Indo Airlines for 2x weekly cargo services between the capitals of Viet Nam and Thailand. Vietravel Airlines indicated that its potential decision regarding adding in-house freighter aircraft could be made “very soon”. It did not, however, provide any colour regarding potential types. There are currently no dedicated freighter aircraft operated in Viet Nam, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.