Vietnam Airlines (VN, Hanoi Noi Bai International) plans to raise fresh funds via a private placement, according to Chairman Dang Ngoc Hoa and reported in Nikkei Asia. It comes after the majority state-owned airline recently reported its first quarterly profit in more than four years, and Hoa saying the carrier's "most difficult time" was over.
"We're planning a private placement of new shares in the near future targeting a select group of investors," Hoa said during a recent shareholders meeting. However, he did not say when this might occur or how much the majority state-owned airline hopes to raise.
In other comments to shareholders, Hoa was cautiously optimistic. He said he expected the remainder of 2024 to be tough due to a weak Vietnamese currency and rising fuel prices. However, he anticipated Vietnam Airlines exiting its negative equity status by the end of 2025. Hoa said he hopes to expand service to Western Europe and Southeast Asia.
According to the ch-aviation PRO airlines module, Vietnam Airlines flies 58 airports in 19 countries with a fleet of 97 aircraft, including one A320-200N, forty-one A321-200s, twenty A321-200Ns, fourteen A350-900s, six (wet leased) ATR72-500s, four B787-10s, and eleven B787-9s.
Like other carriers, ongoing Pratt & Whitney engine issues are impacting Vietnam Airlines, with 13 of the twenty A321-200Ns on the ground because of it. Hoa said the situation had forced Vietnam Airlines to reassess plans to sell aircraft and to push its operational aircraft harder. He added that the carrier is interested in the C919. "There is a plan in place to receive [government] approval in the future," he told shareholders.
