News / Vietnam Airlines pledges to capitalise on cargo boom with freight arm

Vietnam Airlines, which has been carrying cargo in passenger aircraft, plans to launch a freight subsidiary in 2026, in response to rising demand for air freight.

The state-owned airline made this announcement during its AGM on Thursday, during which its 2024 financial results were released, showing a record-high net profit of VND 7.96trn ($312.34m).

Vietnam Airlines is the only Vietnamese airline operating flights to all domestic destinations, and its network has been fully restored and grown compared to the pre-Covid-19 period, with 58 international routes and 38 domestic routes, connecting to 52 destinations in 18 countries.

The carrier’s management said it targets to carry 346,000 tonnes of cargo this year, up 11.5% from 2024.

Vietnam has become an increasingly significant exporter, in part due to the China Plus One strategy, since boosted by the trade war between the US and China. Airfreight capacity out of the country has increased 17% in the year-to-date over last year out of Hanoi, and 11.2% out of Ho Chi Minh, according to Rotate.

Its general director, Le Long Ha, said that to jumpstart its cargo subsidiary, Vietnam Airlines will convert several A321 passenger jets into freighters; the number has not been decided. For a start, the cargo subsidiary will operate only intra-Asia routes.

Intra-Asian capacity out of Vietnam has grown 13% year-on-year up to the end of June – but the biggest changes are to north America, where capacity has gone up 914%.

The carrier has already benefited from the huge growth in trade out of the country: Mr Le added that in 2Q 25, air freight contributed 65% of Vietnam Airlines’ revenue, a significant proportion as passenger transportation had always been the core business.

Compared with its compatriot low-cost peers, VietJet, Vietravel Airlines and Bamboo Airways, Vietnam Airlines has been less aggressive in targeting air freight.

VietJet moved into air cargo with the launch of its subsidiary, VietJet Cargo, in November 2014, but does not have its own fleet of freighters yet. The LCC carries belly cargo and on its partners’ freighters. Vietravel and Bamboo launched their respective cargo units, VUAir Cargo and Bamboo Airways Cargo, in September 2022 and November 2023, but do not have freighters either, only flying belly cargo.

Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam’s (CAAV) figures show that in 1H 25, Vietnamese airports cargo handling increased by 12.5% to 811,400 tonne, and most of these were international cargo.

Cargo volumes handled by Vietnamese airlines in 1H 25 grew 6% y-o-y to 223,600 tonnes. Particularly, international cargo increased by 12% to 108,000 tonnes.

CAAV said: “The growth of the air transportation market in the first half of the year shows a solid recovery of the air transportation industry. Growth will continue in the coming months, especially for international cargo.”