Vietnam Airlines clarifies its dual brand strategy and accelerates Jetstar Pacific's expansion

Jetstar Pacific is accelerating fleet and network expansion as the Vietnamese LCC looks to make up for lost ground after being overtaken by its younger and more ambitious rival VietJet Air. The LCC languished, and was consistently unprofitable for the first seven years as the Qantas partnership slowly evolved, but it is now on track to post its first annual profit since adopting the Jetstar Pacific brand in 2008.

Jetstar Pacific resumed expansion in 2014, ending a prolonged period of flat or negative growth. Over the past two years it has more than doubled its fleet and domestic network while launching international services.

Shareholders Qantas and Vietnam Airlines have committed to nearly triple the joint venture's fleet over the next five years to up to 30 aircraft. Vietnam Airlines took over the majority stake from another government entity in early 2012, but has only recently begun to implement a clear dual brand strategy using Jetstar Pacific to compete against VietJet at the fast-growing bottom end of the Vietnamese market.