Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi Noi Bai International) has secured a three-year extension on VND4 trillion dong (USD158 million) worth of government loans that were falling due later this month. Per a Bloomberg report, Viet Nam's National Assembly approved the extension, to July 2027.
A week ago, ch-aviation reported on a statement on the National Assembly's website that said the airline was facing a financial crisis because it had not completed refinancing tasks such as restructuring non-core investments and the sale of new shares. The statement also warned that Vietnam Airlines faced insolvency as soon as this month if the repayment deadline was not extended.
Viet Nam's central bank refinanced the state-owned carrier's loans (obtained from commercial banks) at 0% in 2021. However, Vietnam Airlines has accrued VND35 trillion (USD1.38 billion) in aggregate losses over the last three calendar years and is now undertaking a restructuring programme designed to set it onto a more profitable course. The National Assembly said the three-year extension would give the carrier more time to complete its restructuring.
According to ch-aviation fleets data, Vietnam Airlines flies to 58 airports in 19 countries with a fleet of 97 aircraft, including forty-two A321-200s, twenty A321-200Ns, fourteen A350-900s, six ATR72-500s (wet-leased in from subsidiary VASCO - Vietnam Air Services), four B787-10s, and eleven B787-9s.
