The Vietnamese government has permitted Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier, to buy additional 10 B787s, and consider the possibility of purchasing other kinds of planes, local media reported Tuesday.

Under the permit, Vietnam Airlines is to work out plans on buying planes which are equivalent to A350s to serve international routes, and additional five ATR72 aircraft to serve domestic flights in the coming time, Youth newspaper said.

The government has also instructed the carrier to open its first direct route to the United States some time between now and late next year.

United Airlines became the first U.S. carrier to offer Vietnam direct services since 1975, with the inauguration of its first flight from San Francisco to Ho Chi Minh City in December 2004.

By late 2005, Vietnam Airlines possessed and leased 40 planes, including eight Boeing 777s, four B767s, ten A320s, seven A321, nine ATR 72s and two Fokker 70s. By 2010, it plans to increase its fleet to 75 aircraft, hoping to serve 10 million passengers and 190,000 tons of cargoes in the year.

From 2006 to 2010, Vietnam Airlines plans to record annual growth of 11 percent in passenger transport and of 12.5 percent in cargo transport, and make the five-year revenue of 99 trillion Vietnamese dong (over 6.2 billion U.S. dollars), the carrier announced recently.

Vietnam Airlines transported nearly 3.7 million passengers and 59,900 tons of cargoes in the first half of this year, up 12.2 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively, against the same period last year, according to the Vietnamese General Statistics Office.

Source: Xinhua