HO CHI MINH CITY -- Vietnamese budget airline Vietjet eked out a 2020 profit after tax of 70 billion dong ($3 million) , despite the headwind in the travel industry due to the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to a shift to cargo as Asia's exporters seek alternatives to skyrocketing container costs.
The carrier's full-year profit was less than 2% of the one earned the previous year, and revenue was down 64% to 18.2 trillion dong. Yet in the quarter ended in December, it reported profit of 995 billion dong -- up 84% compared to the fourth quarter in 2019 -- although revenue shrank by a third due to a decline in passengers.
