GDS uncertain of Viva Macau’s debt payment
By Binh Nguyen - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC - Global distribution system firm GDS, former general sales agent of Viva Macau in Vietnam, is unsure about chances for booking agents, travel agencies and individual passengers to get their money back from the low-fared carrier ahead of a first hearing in Macau.
GDS said in a statement that it together with other booking agents and travel companies had had to deal with many losses since Viva Macau suspended services to Vietnam five months ago. But GDS does not know when the Vietnamese creditors would be able to take back their deposit money.
GDS told the Daily via email that Viva Macau still owed more than US$155,700 to booking agents, travel companies and individuals who had booked seats on flights of Viva Macau before the discount airline stopped services to Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports.
GDS revealed the fresh combined debt after collecting complaint files from 901 corporate and individual guests who fell victim to Viva Macau in its role as the former general sales agent of Viva Macau in Vietnam.
GDS will send an executive to the first hearing for all creditors of Viva Macau as subpoenaed by the court of Macau to get updates about the airline’s case. The two-day hearing will start at 10 a.m. on September 13, with an aim for the court to collect more information about the airline.
GDS quoted international sources as saying that Viva Macau still owed huge debts to the government, jet fuel and services providers in Macau. The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) said Viva Macau had not paid off debts for services providers at airports in this country.
Therefore, CAAV said, Viva Macau’s combined debt in Vietnam was not small if unpaid bills for services providers in Vietnam were also calculated. However, this aviation authority acknowledged that it did not know exactly how much Viva Macau still owed to guests in Vietnam.
Viva Macau operated daily service to Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC and three weekly flights to Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi before it had to suspend its flights to these airports since late March 2010.