Vietnam Airlines Joins SkyTeam Airline Alliance

HANOI (Dow Jones)--Vietnam Airlines has joined the SkyTeam airline alliance, becoming the 10th member of the group.

"We believe that the cooperation among SkyTeam member airlines will facilitate the expansion of flight network, the sharing of experiences and the application of advanced technology," Vietnam Airlines President and Chief Executive Pham Ngoc Minh said at the joining ceremony in Hanoi.

Minh said that joining the alliance will help Vietnam Airlines, SkyTeam's first member in South East Asia, to cut costs and improve its service quality through shared resources.

"Asia is a strategic growth market for SkyTeam and we are well on track to strengthen our network offering in this part of the world," said Leo Van Wijk, chairman of the alliance.

The joining of Vietnam Airlines has added 20 new destinations to the alliance's network, including those in Vietnam, Kaohsiung in Taiwan, and Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos.

"Apart from adding new destinations to our SkyTeam network, Vietnam Airlines will enable customers to travel through Asia on a single ticket in a more commercial way," said SkyTeam managing director Marie-Joseph Male.

SkyTeam's other members are: Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Korean Air. SkyTeam also has two associate airlines: Air Europa and Kenya Airways.

Vietnam Airlines flies 75 routes to 20 domestic and 26 international destinations with more than 290 daily flights. SkyTeam covers more than 850 destinations in 169 countries.

The national carrier said it plans to expand its current fleet of 70 aircraft to 115 by 2015 and 165 by 2020.

Vietnam Airlines also said Thursday that it aims to serve seven new international routes this year, raising its total international routes to 40.

The airline said it expects pretax profit of VND161 billion ($8.5 million) this year, up from VND154 billion in 2009.



-By Vu Trong Khanh, Dow Jones Newswires; +84 4 35123042; trong-khanh.vu@dowjones.com