LookAtVietnam – Vietnam Airlines has reiterated that it will make all efforts to defend its interests in relation to a lawsuit lodged by Italian lawyer Maurizio Liberati against the airline, after it was given two months in a court in Rome last week for preparations.

Minh commented in a statement sent to the Daily after the sixth trial in Rome on April 2 that it was expected that the case would be re-considered fairly and objectively, though the court had yet to hand down a final verdict.

Minh said many lawyers and legal experts in Italy said that the documents submitted by the airline to the competent courts in Italy were sufficient and relevantly tight, which are expected to help the carrier reverse the earlier verdict that required Vietnam Airlines to pay some five million euro in compensation.

Based on such documents and further evidence of Vietnam Airlines, Italian judge Dell’Erba adjudicated at the trial that the two sides had 60 days to prepare their arguments. This judge announced that the Italian claimant Liberati and defendant Vietnam Airlines would have 60 days to submit their defending documents and then 20 days for arguments.

The judge will hand down a verdict after considering all the arguments of the two sides within a period of time decided by the Italian court for the case, which will cost Vietnam Airlines at least 5.2 million euro if the 2000 verdict remains in favor of the plaintiff.

Vietnam Airlines said its lawyers in Italy had submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of Italy on March 27 in accordance with Italy’s legal procedures and within a valid time, as the Rome Appeals Court made a verdict on December 16 last year that the carrier’s appeal was not accepted.

The Vietnamese embassies in France and Italy sent their diplomatic notes and relevant documents to the competent agencies of these countries in order to request re-consideration for the lawsuit, whose first-instant hearing took place in Rome on November 30, 1995.

Vietnam Airlines also counted on the Vietnamese embassy in France to forward certain copies of documents related to the lawsuit to the Supreme Court of Italy. These papers include the Rome Appeals Court’s confirmation that its ruling on December 16, 2008 was not the definitive sentence as the airline still has time to lodge its appeal as well as its appeal to the Supreme Court of Italy to protect its legitimate interests.

* Vietnam Airlines has announced that it will operate 38 more flights as well as use larger aircraft on certain domestic routes from April 29 to May 3 to meet surging demand for air travel by holidaygoers.

The airline will add its flights on the routes from HCMC and Hanoi to such tourist-frequent destinations as Danang, Nha Trang, Hue city, Dalat, Phu Quoc, Haiphong, Vinh, Can Tho and Quy Nhon, and vice versa.

In addition, the airline will also increase seat occupancy on the eight routes from Hanoi to Danang, Nha Trang, Hue and Dalat as well as from HCMC to Danang, Nha Trang, Dalat and Phu Quoc.

The total number of seats on the eight routes will be 25,000 a day for one-way flights, up 11% compared to normal days and 3% over the same period of April 30 and May 1.

In addition to more flights, Vietnam Airlines is promoting fares from VND450,000 (over US$25) for a single trip between HCMC and Nha Trang, from VND500,000 for Hanoi-Danang, from VND650,000 for HCMC-Phu Quoc, and from VND900,000 for long routes.

VietNamNet/SGT