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Bamboo Airways (or Viet Bamboo Airlines) is a start-up carrier which belongs to a Vietnamese construction company, FLC Group. Its charter capital is announced to be VND700 billion (equivalent to USD30.8 million) and the main hub is at Qui Nhon Phu Cat Airport in Binh Dinh Province. On June 20, 2018, Bamboo Airways Vietnam and Boeing did announce their commitment of twenty 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. It’s known that this Viet Bamboo Airlines attempts to start their services by the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019, serving the domestic flights as well as destinations with FLC Hotels & Resorts, before expanding to the Northeast Asia (including Japan, China, and Korea).
The commercial operations of this startup carrier raise several big questions about the need for human resources, budget, flight routes, and inauguration that interest people to do research.
A Quick History of Bamboo Airways Vietnam
- On July 09, 2018, Bamboo Airways was established under the approval of Vietnamese Government.
- On July 13, 2018, the FLC Group passed the plan to increase the charter capital for this new Airways to VND1.300 billion. The capital was increased by the FLC Group owners.
- In July 2018, Bamboo Airways announced to sell the flight tickets from September 02, 2018, and the first flight would be commenced on October 10, 2018.
- On July 27, 2018, Vietnam Aviation Authority finished the dossier of Bamboo Airways and submitted it to the Ministry of Transport to issue the air transport business license.
The committed aircraft of Bamboo Airways
This new carrier will inaugurate at the end of 2018 with 30 aircraft. In particular, they ordered 24 Airbus A321neo and 20 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. About the wide-body long-haul Boeing aircraft, the delivery is likely to start from April 2020 to 2021. In total, Bamboo Airways has 44 aircraft ordered. However, this raises suspicion from the experts who suspect the effectiveness of the agreement to buy a huge number of aircraft like this.
The projected flight routes and the need for nearly 600 human resources
As announced, the Vietnamese startup Bamboo Airways will have the first flight on October 10, 2018, with the projected routes to Qui Nhon, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Nha Trang, and Phu Quoc. These six destinations own the highlight of the FLC Resorts, meaning that the flight carrier will support the resort business and increase the sales. Regarding the international flights, the potential routes will be exploited from the beginning of 2019.
According to FLC Group, this carrier is in need of about 600 human resources for the preparation of the commercial operations at the end of 2018. The wanted positions are in various fields such as security, IT, pilots, co-pilots, and flight assistants, etc.
Expectations from Vietnam Bamboo Airways
It’s important to point out that Bamboo Airways is a hybrid carrier mixed from the cheap airlines and the traditional ones. This carrier only focuses on serving the foreign passengers, aiming to the potential tourist destinations in Vietnam, and helping the international guests to avoid the unnecessary transit points.
In that sense, this carrier will exploit the domestic flight routes to connect the tourist spots like Thanh Hoa – Qui Nhon, Thanh Hoa – Phu Quoc, Thanh Hoa – Nha Trang, Hai Phong – Quy Nhon, etc., promising to assist Vietnam in promoting tourism better. Furthermore, Bamboo Airways promises to capitalize on the advantages of Vietnamese tourism that might be ignored by other carriers, such as the short flight transfer to the legendary Halong Bay.
Not only the passengers and the travelers but also FLC Group places high expectation on the commercial operations of Vietnam Bamboo Airways.
