A VietJet Air aircraft (Source : vietnamnet.vn)Hanoi (VNA) – The low-cost airline Vietjet Air may carry out an initial public offering (IPO) in the second quarter of 2016, Bloomberg reported.
It quoted Vietjet Air’s CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thai as saying in an interview on February 26 that the exact time for the IPO will depend on market developments domestically and globally.
This is one of the airline’s moves to build global routes and become one of the leading budget airlines in Asia.
Thao said the airline has not finalised how much it wants to raise and could offer as much as 30 percent of shares to foreign partners, the maximum level set by the Vietnamese government.
In 2015, VietJet Air served about 9.3 million passengers, up 66 percent compared with previous year. Revenue rocketed 205 percent to 10.9 trillion VND (488 million USD) while net income climbed nearly one trillion VND (45.4 million USD).
The air carrier targets to double its revenue and increase passenger capacity to 15 million in 2016.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Vietnam will rank among the world’s 10 fastest growing aviation in the next two decades.
Bredan Sobie, a chief analyst at the CAPA Centre for Aviation, said Vietnam is an ideal market for low cost airlines as they do not have to face major risks other low cost carriers have in terms of over-capacity and competition.
In order to grow from a low-cost airline to a long-haul international carrier, the firm should invest a lot in larger aircraft and developing an international brand, he added.-VNA
