HANOI, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Vietjet Air, Vietnam's first private airline, plans to launch its first commercial flight in December 2008 or early 2009, according to local newspaper Pioneer on Friday.

    Vietjet Air, receiving an air transport license on Dec. 20, will lease either Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 planes to conduct domestic and international flights, said the carrier's general director Nguyen Duc Tam, former deputy general director in charge of technical issues of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines.

    In the short term, Vietjet Air, with a chartered capital of 600 billion Vietnamese dong (37.5 million U.S. dollars), will tap domestic routes linking Hanoi, central Da Nang city and southern Ho Chi Minh City. Its tickets will be mainly sold via the Internet.

    Some Vietnamese companies prepared to set up airlines, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), who proposed that the government license only two or three carriers in the 2007-2010 period.

    Now, Vietnam has three operational domestic carriers, including Vietnam Airlines which holds a domestic market share of over 80 percent, joint-stock Pacific Airlines, and Vietnam Air Services Company, an affiliate of Vietnam Airlines.

    Vietnam's air industry served nearly 7.9 million domestic and foreign passengers in the first 11 months of 2007, posting a year-on-year rise of 15.7 percent. Meanwhile, the industry transported 119,700 tons of cargoes, up four percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

    Vietnam's aviation market is expected to grow 12-14 percent annually in the 2006-2010 period, 9-11 percent in the 2010-2015 period, and 10-12 percent in the 2015-2020 period, according to the CAAV.