HANOI (Xinhua): Vietnamese carriers are struggling with slot retention in a declining market with some airlines having to operate flights with low seat occupancy to keep the slots, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAA).
The aviation market has not fully recovered to the pre-pandemic level and airlines have struggled to retain slot usage rate at foreign airports, which is a challenge due to low market demand, local newspaper Vietnam News reported on Friday, citing CAA's director Dinh Viet Thang.
According to Dinh Viet Phuong from Vietjet, airlines are facing difficulties as the number of flights increased, but the number of passengers did not, and the seat utilization ratio decreased to low purchasing power and low demand.
The number of international visitors increased compared to 2022 but had not reached the pre-pandemic level, he said.
The traveling demand from Northeast Asia was below expectations with some flights from Japan having occupancy rates of only 40 percent, even though it is meant to be peak season, he said.
Vietnam's aviation market served about 34.7 million passengers in the first half of this year, up 49.6 per cent year-on-year, according to the CAA. The international passengers totaled 14.7 million, equivalent to 73.5 per cent of the same period in 2019. - Xinhua
