Bamboo Airways will take off by year end

By Tran Anh - Oct 10, 2018 | 11:48 AM GMT+7

TheLEADERThe new airline Bamboo Airways, owned by FLC Group, has just announced that its first commercial flight will be moved to the fourth quarter of this year other than on this October 10 as initially scheduled.

To the date, the air transport business license has not been granted to Bamboo Airways, causing the airline to delay its flight schedules.

"We have to revise the original plan. However, this will have no impact on Bamboo Airways' business strategy and pre-designated flight network,” said Dang Tat Thang, General Director of Bamboo Airways.

"Basically, all preparations for the airline’s first flight scheduled at the end of the fourth quarter of this year have been completed," Thang added.

Earlier, Bamboo Airways also missed out on its plans to start selling tickets from September 2.

Bamboo Airways was established by FLC Group last year, with charter capital of VND700 billion ($30 million). In July, FLC decided to increase the airline’s charter capital up to VND1.3 trillion ($55.7 million).

After a year of establishment, both FLC and Bamboo Airways signed two agreements to purchase 24 A321NEO airplanes from Airbus and 20 Boeing B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft from Boeing, valued at $8.8 billion in April.

Prior to that, FLC's airline also proposed the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) to issue registration numbers to three aircraft (one A319 and two A320s) put in use for over ten years which will be leased by the aircraft leasing company WWTAI AirOpco II DAC.