Manpower crisis for Vietnam aviation
HANOI – A shortage of human resources is holding back the aviation industry in Vietnam, according to a recent survey by air service and travel company, TransViet.
The aviation industry in Vietnam needs about 400 new staff annually to service its 20 per cent growth rate, according to Mai Trung Thanh, TransViet’s training director.
However, the Vietnam News Service says the number of newly trained staff is far lower than the demand.
The demand for quality, trained staff is increasing. Last week Qantas added to its stake in Vietnam’s second-biggest carrier, Pacific Airlines.
Qantas plans to eventually include Pacific Airlines as a franchise operating under its Jetstar brand, as a part of a strategy to further expand its presence in Asia.
Currently only the Vietnam Aviation Institute supplies training courses, and these are exclusively for Vietnam Airlines.
Even Vietnam Airlines’ booking agencies only have one or two fully trained staff each, the rest learn professional skills through observation and work experience, the TransViet survey said.
There are more than 500 aviation agents in Hanoi and HCM City, plus another 40 representatives of foreign airlines. TransViet’s survey showed that 70 per cent of these don’t have their staff professionally trained.
The shortage creates severe competition. Airlines offer twice the current salary to keep their qualified staff. Whenever a new airline enters the Vietnamese market, they headhunt qualified employees from those already established, Thanh said.
However, the quality of service, due to a lack of staff training and practical experience, remains low.
Thanh points out that, on average, Vietnamese booking staff may only deal with half as many clients as their Thai counterpart or one-third of Singapore agents.
Co-operating with the Vietnam Aviation Institute and with the support of the global booking system, Amadeus International, and United Airlines, TransViet will run a three-month training course for booking staff.
The company will also build a simulation-training centre in Hanoi.
The courses will open this month in HCM City and in September in Hanoi.
Ian Jarrett
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