Total revenue of the company reached approximately 21 trillion dong, up 17% yoy. However, its after-tax profit decreased by 40% to 746 billion dong.
The reason is that the average oil price in the first quarter increased remarkably over the same period last year, driving up its operating costs.
Parrticularly, the average fuel price of the airline in the first quarter was $65.19 barrel, up $13.64 yoy. Thus, the company's fuel costs stood at more than 1 trillion dong, pulling down its profit.
In addition, financial activities did not bring great profits for Vietnam Airlines as in the first quarter of 2016 because the VNDUSD exchange rate remained stable so far this year.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, in the first quarter, Vietnam Airlines has operated 25,494 flights with the flight delay rate of 8.6%. Its subsidiary Jetstar Pacific has operated 8,542 flights with very high delay rate (27.9%).