The national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, plans to buy five more ATR 72s and four B787s to reinforce its capacity to tap the growing air travel market.

According to Nguyen Tan Chan, a spokesman for Vietnam Airlines, the carrier currently runs a fleet of 44 planes.

This year, Vietnam Airlines expects to receive three new A321s and lease a number of B777-20ERs to cope with growing competition from major airlines and low-cost transporters on international routes.

Coupled with increasing the capacity of its fleet, the national flag carrier also focused on enhancing the capacity of its ground service system.

It has recently signed with Unisys World Trade a contract to deploy an e-trade system to facilitate the sales of e-tickets, which is to begin nationwide soon.

Vietnam Airlines has performed more than 14,000 flights since early this year despite adverse weather, high petrol prices and bird flu outbreaks.

Close to 2.1 million passengers and 26,400 tonnes of cargo have been transported, representing increases of 16.8 percent and 6 percent, respectively, over the same period last year.