A Vietjet aircraft prepares to land at Tan Son Nhat International Airport
in Ho Chi Minh City in June 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. 

Budget airline Vietjet recorded a consolidated after-tax profit of VND70 billion ($3 million) in 2020 despite headwinds caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

This makes Vietjet one of the few airlines in the world that did not reduce its workforce, the carrier said in its latest financial statement.

The second largest airline in Vietnam in terms of market share reported consolidated revenues of VND18.2 trillion last year, down 64 percent year-on-year.

According to its financial statement, ancillary revenue accounted for nearly 50 percent of Vietjet’s total revenue in 2020. The airline promoted ancillary services to offset decreasing air travel revenue, the statement noted.

For instance, it increased the number of cargo flights to make up for dwindling revenues from passenger flights and increased application of the self-service system at the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi to lower costs.

Vietjet said it conducted 78,462 flights in 2020, down from 139,000 in 2019. The airline’s total assets were valued at over VND47 trillion as of last year.