Vietnam Airlines announced on Thursday that it has received one of the four Airbus A320s under wet-leasing arrangements to satisfy soaring travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet.

The national flag carrier planned to put this aircraft into service on Friday and added that the remaining three wet-leased A320s are expected to arrive in Vietnam early next month.

A 'wet lease' is a short-term leasing arrangement whereby one carrier provides an aircraft, a complete crew, maintenance, and insurance for another.

The wet lease of the four aircraft will enable Vietnam Airlines to operate an additional 1,000 flights during Tet, which will take place in February.

These aircraft can accommodate 180 passengers each who will be served by Vietnam Airlines and foreign flight attendants.

Passengers should pay their heed to requirements on baggage allowance and baggage fees when flying with Vietnam Airlines, the carrier suggested.

In related news, local budget carrier Vietjet has completed wet-leasing four aircraft, while Bamboo Airways, another Vietnamese airline, has added two aircraft to its fleet amid growing Tet travel demand.

Passengers crowd a local airport in Vietnam. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre

As Tet will come in a couple of weeks, local carriers are busy adding thousands of flights to satisfy the need.

Three airline members of Vietnam Airlines Group, namely Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines, and VASCO, have offered 2.86 million seats in total for both domestic and international flights.

The group especially increased the frequency of early-morning and night flights by over 1,300 so that its passengers will have more travel options.

Similarly, Vietjet revealed the addition of 750 flights, equivalent to 154,800 seats to serve the forthcoming peak travel season.

The extra flights mostly serve passengers who return to their hometowns for family gatherings during Tet or those who take on Tet tours.

As of January 12, local carriers had sold between 80 and 100 percent of their tickets for flights linking Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi with other localities during the holiday.

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