04/02/12, 18:12:18 EST

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Discount airline guarantees good-quality services

english.vietnamnet.vn

After an aircraft of a discount air carrier in Thailand crashed, Vice Head of the Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration (VCAA) Luu Thanh Binh confirmed that all planes must obey rules on safety, though they belong to discount or normal airlines.

Mr. Binh said that VCAA had requested that all airlines of Vietnam check their vehicles immediately and any aircraft that does not meet safety rules is not allowed to take off.



The official said that the VCAA had regularly supervised technical inspections of local airlines and those airlines always checked out as safe, not only since the accident in Thailand.



“I want to confirm that safety is the common issue of all airlines, not distinguishing discount or expensive ones,” he said.



However, since the accident in Thailand, many passengers have expressed concern about the quality of aircrafts and services of discount airlines.



Luong Hoai Nam, General Director of Pacific Airlines, the first discount air carrier of Vietnam, affirmed that there was no kind of aircraft manufactured for discount airlines only and there were no national and international regulations on safety standards and maintenance for discount airlines only.



He said that the Boeing B737-400s that Pacific Airlines was using were between 10-13 years old only and quite ‘young’ among the 5,000 B737 aircrafts that are being used in the whole world.



“We are trying to buy more new aircrafts to serve passengers. The new fleet will be put into use as of 2010,” Mr. Nam informed.



Regulations on safety are being strictly followed by discount airlines in Vietnam. Chief representative of Tiger Airways in Vietnam, Ta Viet Tien, said that this airway was using nine Airbus 320s for the HCM City-Singapore and Hanoi-Singapore routes. Those aircrafts are technically inspected and maintained periodically.



“Singapore Airlines holds 49% of shares of Tiger Airways and the Singaporean partner always demands high quality and safety,” Mr. Tien said.



Tiger Airways has spent US$2.2 billion to place orders for 80 Airbuses and it will receive 30 in the next several years.



More than 2 years since the first discount flight of Tiger Airways took off in Vietnam in April 2005, Vietnamese people are now familiar with discount flights. The average occupancy rate of Pacific Airlines is more than 80% at present. Flights of Jestar Australia scheduled from October to December 2007 are booked at more than 82%.



Discount airlines that are operating in Vietnam include Pacific Airlines, Thai AirAsia, Tiger Airways, Air Asia, Kongkongair, and Jesta Australia.

 Printable Version  | published Sep 24, 2007