Vietnam Airlines buys six ATR planes

HANOI: Vietnam Airlines signed a contract on Friday to buy six new ATR 72-500 planes worth a total of 112 million dollars to modernise its fleet of short-haul turboprop aircraft, officials from both companies said.

The six new 70-seat planes, and five ordered a year ago, will bring to 14 the fleet of ATR 72-500s operated by the Vietnamese flag carrier by 2010, said ATR officials at the Hanoi signing ceremony.

The state-run airline already has three of the planes - and seven older ATR 72-200s which it plans to sell back by 2010 to ATR, based in Toulouse, France.

Vietnam Airlines president Pham Ngoc Minh said the 11 new planes, to be delivered in 2009 and 2010, would help meet rising demand for short-haul routes and promote tourism, investment and trade in Vietnam and the surrounding region.

Air travel demand was "accelerating rapidly" from Vietnam's three largest cities to tourist spots such as the beach resort of Nha Trang, the southern island of Phu Quoc and the Lao former royal capital of Luang Prabang, he said.

Minh said the new purchases would also help the airline "to prepare for the recovery of the aviation market" after the current global slump and would give Vietnam Airlines "the biggest fleet of ATR aircraft in Southeast Asia."

ATR says its -500 series aircraft have low noise levels and the lowest fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emission per passenger in the market.

Vietnam Airlines now operates 50 aircraft and plans to expand its fleet to 150 by 2020. It currently flies to 23 international destinations and aims to serve 11 million passengers in 2010.