All Nippon Airways buys 8.8 per cent of Vietnam Airlines
All Nippon Airways buys 8.8 per cent of Vietnam Airlines
Japan’s biggest air transport group All Nippon Airways (ANA) is going to become Vietnam Airlines (VNA)’s strategic partner after buying 8.8 per cent of the latter according to newswire thesaigontimes.vn.
The newswire quoted an announcement by VNA on January 12 as saying that ANA spent VND2.4 trillion ($108 million) on the purchase. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)on the strategic partnership. The official purchasing contract is going to be signed in the first quarter of 2016.
According to the MoU, ANA will share with VNA experience in management and help VNA improve service and optimise operations.
Pham Viet Thanh, chairman of VNA, said the cooperation would enable VNA to expand its market and increase international competitiveness. The two companies will expand their networks, share services in Japan and Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines now has 66 flights each week on 10 routes between Japan and Vietnam while ANA has 14.
Other foreign partners still have room to buy into VNA as the latter announced in March that it would sell 20 per cent of its shares to up to three strategic partners.
Japanese company All Nippon Airways has a fleet of 240 aircraft, with 88 destinations, carrying 47 million passengers per year. ANA is Japan’s biggest airline in terms of revenue and number of passengers.
Vietnam Airlines now has 95 routes to 21 domestic destinations and 29 international destinations, with 360 flights per day. The company now has a fleet of 87 aircraft including Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Airbus A350-900 XWB, Boeing 777, Airbus A330 and Airbus A321.
In 2015, VNA’s consolidated revenue was VND69.3 trillion ($3.2 billion), pretax profit of VND1.4 trillion ($65.7 million). Of the amount, the parent company VNA and VASCO had revenue of VND57.1 trillion ($2.7 billion) and pretax profit of VND260 billion ($12.2 million).
ANA opened the Hanoi-Haneda route in March last year, its second route in Vietnam after the Ho Chi Minh City-Narita route which debuted back in 2001. In October 2015, ANA was reported to be in negotiations over a strategic stake at Vietnam Airlines, and the two parties were expected to finalise the deal in the first quarter of 2016.
