Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. It's part of the Vietnam Airlines's quality improvement programme. — Photo VNA

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — National carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) earned nearly VND52.5 trillion (US$2.36 billion) in syndicated revenue in the first nine months of this year, a press release issued on October 10 said.

The release did not show the year-on-year comparison, but said the firm's syndicated profit of more than VND1.3 trillion ($58.42 million) had exceeded its target.

About 100,000 flights were operated in the first nine months, nearly five per cent higher than the same period last year.

The VNA said that several policies issued since the middle of the year had contributed to the rise in the number of international visitors to Viet Nam, especially the visa exemption norms for tourists from five western European countries that came into effect in July, leading to expectations of a 50 per cent rise in the number of arrivals from such countries in the next three years.

The airline carried more than 12.5 million passengers between January and the end of September this year. The international and domestic routes have been showing good growth, especially the route between Viet Nam and the northeast Asian region.

In the first half of the year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals fell 12 per cent, compared with last year. But between July and September, foreign tourist arrivals in Viet Nam increased, with the number reaching 626,000 in September, an 8.3 per cent increase over last year.

However, the VNA has been facing several difficulties and challenges due to complicated economic and political situations across the world, with the volume of visitors from key markets such as Europe decreasing, and the Japanese yen, South Korea's won and the Australian dollar falling due to devaluation.

The carrier aims to carry 16.7 million passengers this year and will continue its restructuring programme to reduce the number of employees to 6,500 by 2016. — VNS