Hanoi (VNA) - A representative of the Ministry of Transport rejects information that the Ministry had been building an exclusive protectionism policy for the national flag carrier of Vietnam Airlines.

Five solutions to remove bottlenecks facing aviation industry

According to the Ministry of Transport, it submitted a document to the Prime Minister on March 26 with recommendations for enterprises. Accordingly, the Ministry of Transport assigned the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to carefully look into the recommendations, including a protectionism policy for the national flag carrier with a focus on slot allocation (taking off and landing timetable) in order to facilitate the sustainable development of Vietnam Airlines. As mentioned, this document gathers recommendations by enterprises before March 26 and covers no guidelines or orders by the Ministry, it affirmed. The Ministry said it had collected recommendations by enterprises for solutions to remove bottlenecks facing enterprises in the transportation sector, including those in the aviation industry. It claims to have collected recommendations by enterprises, reporting five concreted measures in the document submitted to the Prime Minister, including (1) facilitating carriers after the pandemic through airport slots management, (2) streamlining administrative procedures applied for carriers, (3) implementing air management and monitoring via online platforms, (4) integrating flights rescuing Vietnamese citizens abroad through international flights to Vietnam and (5) requesting air service providers and their suppliers to proactively support one another. The Airports Corporation of Vietnam had previously reduced or temporarily removed fees at airports for numerous aviation services under the management of the corporation for all carriers. Services include guiding the aircraft in and out of the parking position (down 50%), conveyor belt leasing, luggage handling, passenger stairs leasing, check-in counters leasing and ground services (down 10%) as well as representative offices leasing (down 100% for carriers having already suspended all flights and 30% for those still in operation). The fee reduction and exemption are applied from March 1, 2020 to the end of August 2020.

Proposal for ‘rescuing’ the aviation sector

Having collected and studied recommendations and proposals by aviation enterprises within the authority of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Transport made a recommendation, asking the Government to spare import duty and environment tax on aviation fuel from January 23, 2020, to December 31, 2020, or 90 days following the Government’s announcement the country is free of the pandemic. Should difficulties arise when adjusting the state budget, it suggested the government reduce 50% of the aforementioned taxes and extend deadlines for tax payments and state budget responsibility fulfillment. They also suggest a decrease of 50% for take-off and landing services, and air traffic control service for domestic flights. If adopted, the reduction fee would be applicable from March 1, 2020, to August 31, 2020, or up to actual epidemic developments. The Ministry also proposed a decrease on or reschedule of personal income tax, corporate income tax, and foreign contractor’s taxes that incur from January 23 to December 31, 2020 or 90 days following the Government’s declare the country free of the pandemic. The Government assigned the State Bank of Vietnam the ability to extend the payment deadline for credit loans, and remove interests incurred during the pandemic period, as well as the ability to continue granting loans for enterprises. Leader of the Ministry of Transport affirmed all policies are applied equally to all aviation firms. The Ministry has not directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to study any exclusive protectionism policies to any firm, the ministry says./.

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has carried out numerous important missions during the country’s fight against the acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS- CoV-2). Significantly, they have deployed several flights to rescue Vietnamese citizens stranded in pandemic-hit countries around the world.Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air are two Vietnamese carriers transporting medical supplies for localities across Vietnam to support the fight against COVID-19.