Air Mekong passengers board a plane. The private airline had its air transport licence revoked due to its failure to submit a plan for restructuring business. — Photo Abay.vn

HA NOI  (Biz Hub) — The Ministry of Transport has revoked the air transport licence of Air Mekong as the private airline has failed to submit a plan for restructuring its business, Tuoitre.vn reported.

A representative from the carrier was not immediately available for comment.

Air Mekong entered the domestic aviation market in October 2010 and remained operational until March 1, 2013 when it announced that it was suspending its operations and restructuring its fleet.

As per a government decree issued on air transport in 2013, the business licence of any airline that halts its operations for 12 consecutive months is revoked.

In order to avoid losing its licence, Air Mekong had submitted a plan for resuming operations and renewing its air operator's certificate (AOC) with the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAAV) in late March last year.

The airline had also petitioned the transport ministry to extend its licence at the end of last year. Its proposal was accepted at the time, but on the condition that it had to draw up a detailed plan for resuming its business and present the relevant documents related to its restructuring process, financial and personnel plans, as well as airline leases.

However, Air Mekong had failed to submit any of these required reports as of the end of last year.

Tuoitre.vn quoted the Head of CAAV Lai Xuan Thanh, as saying that Air Mekong had not made any move to resume its operations in 2015 despite the transport ministry and the CAAV having created the most favourable conditions for the airline to do this. — VNS