Vietnamese businessmen plan to turn aviation services into “street rice”

02:11, 03/11/2011

Four helicopters have been imported to Vietnam, while the importer is considering importing six more. The importer brings helicopters to Vietnam not to serve some VIPs, but serve everybody, because it plans to make aviation services become a kind of service affordable to everyone.

Four helicopters have been imported to Vietnam, while the importer is considering importing six more. The importer brings helicopters to Vietnam not to serve some VIPs, but serve everybody, because it plans to make aviation services become a kind of service affordable to everyone.

helicopter
All can charter helicopters to fly


The four helicopters imported by Green Planet are all small civilian aircrafts with 2-4 seats. This kind of helicopters only allow to fly on short distances, capable to fly six hours continuously, mostly used for sightseeing. The helicopters just need 600 meter runway, while they can land on grass or highway.

A representative of Green Planet said on October 28 that the import of the four helicopters is a part of the strategy on turning aviation services into a popular service to people.

Le Thanh Huyen, a senior executive of Green Planet said that her company will join forces with the Air Force Officer School to train and grant certificates to helicopter pilots.

“We have got the support from the Ministry of National Defense in our plan. To date, we have two senior pilots who are being trained in Thailand, and a ground technician. The Hoa Lac airport will be the main place for training.

Huyen has revealed that the company is now a member of the Northern Aviation Club, and that the company plans to sell membership cards like the ones at golf clubs. Especially, the company will target the youth, who are eager for flying, and they will be trained and granted driving license if they can meet necessary requirements. Green Planet has imported some flight training models, while it is compiling training curriculum.

Besides, the company also plans to provide tourism services or emergency services with the small helicopters which are allowed to easily to take off and operate.

Meanwhile, Bui Minh Dang, a senior executive of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam CAAV on October 28 said that Green Planet’s representatives had come to ask about the procedures, while the company has not asked for the permission to provide the services. “They can import helicopters easily, but they will have to satisfy all strict requirements to be able to fly on the helicopters,” he said.

The official has revealed that besides Green Planet, some other companies and individuals have also contacted CAAV to ask about the necessary procedures for importing helicopters for business.

Aviation service proves to be not an easy business

As such, providing aviation services and developing aviation services into the services for the general public has become the goal that many businessmen are striving to.

After breaking promises many times in the last four years, Vietjet Air has once again stated that it will provide the first commercial flights by the end of the year. Meanwhile, IDA, the airline of the well known musician Ha Dung, still keeps quiet about the moment of resuming flights.

Experts say that in order to jump into the aviation sector, investors need “to have billions of dollars and waste millions of dollars”, though according to the Aviation Law, one has to have several hundreds of billions of dong only to set up an airline.

Analysts believe that it is very difficult to survive and develop if the owners of the airlines only provide aviation services. Vietnam Airlines declares loss for domestic flights and has to use the profits from international flights to offset the losses. Meanwhile, the owner of Air Mekong does business in many fields, from seafood trading, real estate and tourism. Meanwhile, JP and IDA, which earn their living on passenger carrying, have to struggle to survive.

(Source: Tien phong)