A former Vietnam Airlines executive has been named as the first chief executive officer of new airline startup Vinpearl Air.
Phan Xuan Duc is a former deputy general director at flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and brings more than 30 years of aviation experience.
Duc was one of the most experienced captains at Vietnam Airlines and held the deputy general director position for nearly a decade until he retired in 2017.
Since then he has been heavily involved in Vingroup’s airline project from the beginning.
Vinpearl Air is the latest business unit of the Vingroup portfolio, which encompasses hotels and theme parks.
Vingroup applied for an air operator’s license with working capital of US$202 million and is targeting July 2020 for a launch.
It will begin with a fleet of six aircraft and hopes to add a further six planes a year for the next five years.
It will be based at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport and will fly Airbus A320s and A321s or Boeing 737s.
It is also setting up the Vinpearl Air Flight Training Center for a pipeline of new pilots and technicians with up to 400 being trained each year.
