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HANOI, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Vietjet Air, Vietnam's first private
airline, plans to launch its first commercial flight in December 2008 or

early 2009, according to local newspaper Pioneer on Friday.

Vietjet Air, receiving an air transport license on Dec. 20, will
lease
either Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 planes to conduct domestic and
international flights, said the carrier's general director Nguyen Duc
Tam,
former deputy general director in charge of technical issues of national

flag carrier Vietnam Airlines.

In the short term, Vietjet Air, with a chartered capital of 600
billion Vietnamese dong (37.5 million U.S. dollars), will tap domestic
routes linking Hanoi, central Da Nang city and southern Ho Chi Minh
City.
Its tickets will be mainly sold via the Internet.

Some Vietnamese companies prepared to set up airlines, according to

the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), who proposed that
the
government license only two or three carriers in the 2007-2010 period.

Now, Vietnam has three operational domestic carriers, including
Vietnam Airlines which holds a domestic market share of over 80 percent,

joint-stock Pacific Airlines, and Vietnam Air Services Company, an
affiliate of Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam's air industry served nearly 7.9 million domestic and
foreign
passengers in the first 11 months of 2007, posting a year-on-year rise
of
15.7 percent. Meanwhile, the industry transported 119,700 tons of
cargoes,
up four percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

Vietnam's aviation market is expected to grow 12-14 percent
annually
in the 2006-2010 period, 9-11 percent in the 2010-2015 period, and 10-12

percent in the 2015-2020 period, according to the CAAV.

Editor: Du Guodong