ASIAN CULTURAL & TRAVEL
NEW
30 flights delayed because of
no fuel?
|
On April 1, all the 30 domestic flights
of Pacific Airlines were delayed for 2-3
hours as the only petrol supplier, the
Vietnam Air Petrol Company, Vinapco,
interrupted providing fuel to the
airline.
Pacific Airlines said that on the
morning of April 1, Vinapco unilaterally
stopped providing fuel to Pacific
Airlines’ aircrafts, since the two sides
could not reach the agreement on the
petrol price increase as of April 1 as
requested by Vinapco.
Tien phong newspaper on April 2 wrote
that under the contracts on selling and
purchasing petrol for 2008 signed
between Pacific Airlines and Vinapco on
December 31, 2007, Pacific Airlines has
to pay Vinapco the petrol charging fee
of VND593,000/tonne in addition to the
petrol price, transport fee, insurance
and import tax.
On March 20, 2008, Pacific Airlines
received the dispatch from Vinapco,
which informed that the latter will
raise the petrol charging fee to
VND750,000/tonne.
However, the air carrier did not accept
to change the provisions of the
contract, because Vinapco sells petrol
to Pacific Airlines at the higher prices
than the prices at which it sells to
Vietnam Airlines. Meanwhile, according
to the Government’s decisions, Vietnam
Airlines and Pacific Airlines must be
equally treated.
On March 31, Pacific Airlines sent a
petition to the Government, the Ministry
of Transport, the Ministry of Finance,
the Civil Aviation Administration of
Vietnam, requesting the intervention to
the issue.
Right after receiving the petition from
Pacific Airlines, Minister of Transport
Ho Nghia Dung immediately asked Vinapco
to resume providing fuel to Pacific
Airlines. Pacific Airlines’ aircrafts
got the fuel at 8.30 of the same day to
take off.
However, Tran Huu Phuc, Director of
Vinapco, said that Vinapco would provide
fuel for several days, and if Pacific
Airlines does not accept the price
increase, Vinapco will stop providing
fuel “until the two sides reach
agreement” as Nguoi lao dong wrote on
April 2.
Deputy Head of the Civil Aviation
Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) Lai
Xuan Thanh said that the action of
Vinapco to stop providing petrol has
violated the laws. CAAV has requested
the Ministry of Finance to chair the
price negotiation between the two sides
in order to reach the final agreement.
Dr Le Dang Doanh, Economist, said that
Vinapco has taken advantage of its
position as the sole distributor of air
petrol. This is a kind of public
service, as the lack of fuel will cause
air traffic jam, which badly affects the
society.
Vinapco: We have to do that to protect
ourselves
Tran Huu Phuc, Vinapco’s Director on
April 2 stressed that Vinapco does not
take advantage of its position as the
sole distributor of air petrol. Phuc
said that Vinapco only stopped providing
petrol after it informed Pacific
Airlines about the increase in fuel
supply fee.
According to Phuc, Vinapco, the 100%
state owned company belonging to Vietnam
Airlines Corporation, provides 50,000
tonnes of fuel every year, 60% of which
serves domestic airlines.
Vinapco does not build up its sale
prices, but it sells fuel to airlines at
the prices it imports from suppliers,
and collects fuel supply fees (storage,
preservation, transport, depot leasing
fee).
Phuc said that the higher transport fee
and the high ratio of loss in transit
both have forced Vinapco to raise the
prices. The State now does not subsidise
air petrol and even imposes the high
import tax rates of 10-15%.
He said that JET A-1, the petrol which
is being used in Vietnam, cannot be
stored in big quantities due to the
chemical and physical properties of the
fuel. The current reserves of this kind
of fuel are 20,000 tonnes, which is
enough for 10 flight days.
Under the latest contract between
Vinapco and Pacific Airlines on December
31, 2007, the agreed price was
VND593,000/tonne. However, Phuc said
that the price was inked when the
world’s price was $76.2/barrel, while
the price now has soared to
$110-130/barrel. Therefore, Vinapco
three times, on March 12, 21 and 28
informed Pacific Airlines that it had to
raise the price.
As for Pacific Airlines, it said that it
would be reasonable to raise the price
once the world’s price increases.
However, the airline said that the
supply fee must be the same for domestic
airlines. While Vietnam Airlines can
enjoy the lower supply fee, Pacific
Airlines has to pay the higher fee.
However, Phuc said that in principle,
Vietnam Airlines can enjoy lower fees
because it purchases more fuel than
Pacific Airlines (Vietnam Airlines
purchased 500,000 tonnes of fuel, while
the volume is 10-11 times lower for
Pacific Airlines).
In fact, Vinapco sent a document to
Vietnam Airlines, informing about the
application of the new price of
VND779,000/tonne. However, the
corporation has not approved due to the
complicated procedures.
Negotiations to be resumed
Pacific Airlines said that Vinapco is
the only distributor of air fuel in
Vietnam, therefore, the airline does not
have any other choice. It also said that
the interruption of fuel supply may push
the airline into the wall.
Pacific Airlines’ said that the fuel
price increases applied for Pacific
Airlines alone but not for other
domestic air carriers, will force
Pacific Airlines to raise the airfare,
thus reducing its competitiveness, while
it is undergoing the restructure
process.
A question has bee raised that why
Vietnam Airlines, which also did not
accept the fuel supply fee increase,
still can get fuel from Vinapco, while
Pacific Airlines does not.
Answering the question, Phuc from
Vinapco said that the relationship
between Vinapco and Pacific Airlines is
the partnership, while Vietnam Airlines
is the owner of Vinapco.
Luong Hoai Nam, General Director of
Pacific Airlines, said that under the
contract, the price and fee adjustments
must get the agreement between the two
sides. Negotiations must be carried out
until the agreement is reached. The fact
that Vinapco unilaterally stopped
supplying fuel has violated the signed
contract.
Nam said that as the air petrol supply
remains the sole service with Vinapco
being the only supplier, the two sides
need to carry out negotiations with the
chair of the Ministry of Finance if they
cannot reach agreements themselves.
When asked if Pacific Airlines will sue
Vinapco, Nam said ‘no’, adding that this
is not an active move. Pacific Airlines
is the second biggest client of Vinapco
(after Vietnam Airlines), and it wants
to build a sustainable relationship
between the two sides.
Tran Duy
Source : Viet Nam Net
|
|
|
