VietNamNet Bridge – Passengers who booked tickets to fly with Indochina Airlines (ICA) have been told to fly instead with Vietnam Airlines or Jetstar Pacific, because Indochina Airlines only plane is in maintenance.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has confirmed ICA had informed them of maintenance to its only aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 from November 1 to November 4.

The airline stressed that this is periodic maintenance which has been scheduled before. However, the air carrier has decided to prolong the maintenance period until November 8 because of “technical requirements”.

One month ago, ICA also had to cancel flights for two days and gave the same reason that it had to put the aircraft into maintenance. However, local newspaper Giao Thong Van Tai quoted sources as saying that the air carrier could not provide flights at that time because pilots and stewardesses went on a strike as they had not received wages.

The air carrier has long been bogged down in debts. The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) previously released a document, requiring the private air carrier Indochina Airlines to come clean about its debts or face losing its license from January 1, 2010.

Indochina Airline launched its first commercial flight on November 25, 2008. It is now using one aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 with 162 economy seats and 12 business seats.

Another Boeing 737-800 is expected to be put into use on October 22. The airline said it is considering raising the flight frequency on HCM City-Hanoi-HCM City to four flights per day and considering resuming the HCM City-Da Nang route which it stopped flying in late August.

VietNamNet/GTVT

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