HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, has approved the establishment of a new airline, Sun PhuQuoc Airways, the official Vietnam News Agency reported on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed the approval in an email to Reuters on Wednesday, without giving further details.
The airline, the parent company of which is real estate and hospitality developer Sun Group, will begin operations with an initial investment of 2.5 trillion dong ($96 million) and plans to launch its first flight by the fourth quarter of 2025, VNA reported.
The aviation market in Vietnam, a country with a population of 100 million, is growing rapidly since recovering from the COVID pandemic, prompting businesses to vie for market share.
Sun PhuQuoc Airways – set to operate alongside national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, low-cost carrier VietJet, Bamboo Airways, and Vietravel Airlines – aims to expand its fleet to 31 aircraft by 2030, the VNA report said. The new airline will provide both commercial and charter flights.
Sun Group has previously launched Sun Air, a high-end airline offering premium private jet services to wealthy customers, according to its website.
Vietnam saw a 23% year-on-year increase in visitor numbers in the first four months of this year, with 7.7 million tourists arriving in the country, according to official data.
(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen. Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)
