Last month, Bamboo Airways announced that it would be taking on two Embraer 195s for a short period of time. The aircraft will be used for domestic flights, but how will they fit into the Bamboo Airways strategy?

Bamboo Airways acquires two Embraer 195

In a matter of days, the Vietnamese leisure airlines Bamboo Airways will acquire two Embraer 195 aircraft. They will be coming from Great Dane Airlines, which is a Danish start-up carrier. After suffering low demand due to the pandemic, these aircraft are being put into good use. Bamboo Airways will lease the planes for six months and use them to fly within Vietnam.

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On its social media, the airline announced that the E195s would be used for direct routes to Con Dao, which is a group of islands on the southeastern coast of Vietnam. It expects this to go ahead on August 18th in nine days' time.

First Embraer's in the fleet

The move to Embraer aircraft is an exciting one for Bamboo Airways. It has never used the aircraft before and instead relies on a relatively small fleet of 22 aircraft in Airbus and Boeing variants.

It currently has one Airbus A319 alongside eleven Airbus A320, seven A321, and three Boeing 787s. The airline specializes in narrow-body aircraft though its reach is both regional and international. It focuses heavily on Asia with routes across Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines; however, it also offers select destinations further afield. According to its website, the airline provides intercontinental routes to:

• Kuwait;
• Los Angeles;
• San Fransico;
• Sydney;
• Melbourne; and
• Prague.

The benefit of the new Embraers coming to the fleet is that Bamboo Airways can optimize its short-haul network. In the current climate, domestic routes will typically be in higher demand. In the long term, Bamboo Airways will be able to solidify its customer base in this region, which will help it to develop in the future. As always, in true Bamboo Airways style, this will be done with customer comfort at heart.

Why lease the aircraft?

Rather than investing in its own aircraft at this time, Bamboo Airways is leasing its aircraft. But why? Wouldn't it make more sense for the airline to take out a lease for a more extended period, which gives it the flexibility it needs?

Well, in a time such as this, it makes sense for Bamboo Airways to take advantage of the assets available to it. For one, leasing aircraft from Great Dane Airlines is likely to be significantly cheaper than purchasing new aircraft itself. What's more, Bamboo Airways does have flexibility in this venture.

The lease allows the airline to test out its new routes to Con Dao without too much pressure if they fail. It can get a proper feel for demand before it invests more heavily in this route. That makes a lot of financial sense, and here's to hoping that the deal pays off.

Do you think Bamboo Airways' E195 routes will be a success? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.