Vietjet Rumoured to Be Establishing Australian Subsidiary

[MELso]

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[Chatswood]

Indeed, Vietjet has signed a deal with WSI. they will start flying from WSI from early next year. This has been publicly announced i think.

I’ll be very surprised if Vietjet Aus doesn’t offer some flights from WSI to feed their international routes, but hard to see it as a main base if they’ve gone to all the trouble to apply for slots at SYD.

 

[eastwest101]

I think they will struggle for pilots (more FOs) at WSI. All major carriers in Sydney often do.

Huh?

No operational flight crew bases at WSI airport yet, so you are making the point that current crew bases struggle to find crew who are operating out of Mascot in SYD, which isn't a surprise, as Mascot airport is surrounded by very expensive real estate, whether renting or buying. It would follow that the lower-paying airlines would struggle to attract crew to a Mascot base, and that is the case, with anecdotal evidence that both Rex and Jetstar are having difficulty crewing in Sydney (because of the lower salaries and higher living costs).

If you were qualified and lived in Western Sydney, would the grind of commuting to Mascot from home, with the cost of driving and parking, be attractive to you, compared to living in Western Sydney and commuting to WSI? Not everyone in the world wants to live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. I bet heaps of flight crew who live in the Greater Western Sydney area would definitely see a lifestyle benefit to working from WSI compared to the sh#*show that is Mascot Airport given similar wages and a shorter commute..

Anyway - it's an interesting conundrum for Vietjet if they want to simply be a feeder operation for their existing Vietjet international services or if this does turn out to be a more serious attempt at gaining market share in the domestic market. With both Bain and the Qantas group having held such tight domestic capacity post-COVID to increase yield, maybe these yields have proven to be attractive to other competitors.

 

[moa999]

simply be a feeder operation for their existing Vietjet international services

They already fly to SYD, MEL, BNE, PER and soon WSI. And previously served ADL (dropped in 2024).

 

[HS-TQE]

Looks like VietJet/Cherrie Air's entry in Australia might be delayed after a hedge fund applied to freeze the parent VietJet's assets over unpaid aircraft leases.

Source (May be paywall depending on your personal Free article counts): Worldwide freeze on Vietjet assets as judge questions Caymans set-up

 

[Harrison_133]

Some titbits from a paywalled article in The Australian.

VietJet has ignored court orders dating as far back to October 2021 to pay increasingly large sums to the lessor FWA.

Vietnamese courts are refusing to recognise the English judgements.

There's also a court order issued on FWA's behalf in Singapore to seize 9 VietJet aircraft. VietJet admits it has stopped flying those aircraft to Singapore in response.

UK court hits budget airline Vietjet with global asset freeze over $360m debt

 

[Saab34]

Certainly not the first leasing dispute from an airline due to the pandemic, however this could be problematic putting aircraft in Australia.

These things can drag out for years. Seems like Easyjet is also going through the courts at the moment.

 

[Harrison_133]

We could potentially get a first glimpse at VH-T8A soon.

Other 737s with Line Numbers in the same range as T8A (LN 9890) are starting to have their first flights or are being spotted at the factory.

A potential sighting should clarify the VietJet or Cherrie Air name, and also give an indication as to whether the delivery could be affected by this judgement.

 

[esquire]

We could potentially get a first glimpse at VH-T8A soon.

Other 737s with Line Numbers in the same range as T8A (LN 9890) are starting to have their first flights or are being spotted at the factory.

A potential sighting should clarify the VietJet or Cherrie Air name, and also give an indication as to whether the delivery could be affected by this judgement.

Media is onto it already - SMH is already suggesting it is a $360M blow to their domestic ambitions. This is before they even consider an Australian workforce and the costs that go with that.