SINGAPORE—Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways has signaled that it will be shedding its Boeing 787 fleet and dropping its long-haul flights as the embattled carrier's restructuring journey continues.

Long-haul routes to Frankfurt, London, Melbourne and Sydney have been removed from the booking section of Bamboo's website. The carrier's only international destinations now are Bangkok, Seoul, Taiwan's capital Taipei and Tokyo.

Bamboo’s Australia and New Zealand Sales Manager Brad Crawford also posted on LinkedIn that all his staff will be made redundant.

The carrier said in an Oct. 23 statement that it has increased "commercial efficiency by reducing the frequency of a number of inefficient routes with low passenger demand while increasing operation on routes recording high demand"—without explicitly mentioning a cull of all long-haul routes.

Bamboo will be bringing in narrowbody aircraft to focus on select Southeast Asian destinations, as well as domestic trunk routes connecting Da Nang, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the carrier added.

“Bamboo Airways has been actively discussing and negotiating with partners to redesign the appropriate structure and size, prioritizing economy, uniformly standardizing aircraft configuration, reducing fuel consumption and protecting the environment,” the airline said, adding: "Simultaneously, Bamboo Airways is taking steps to expand the potential lessor network, working closely with Boeing and Airbus to implement previously agreed upon aircraft purchase agreements. These efforts aim to prepare for the fleet increase from 2024 onwards proactively.”

The Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database shows that Bamboo has an in-service fleet of two 787-9s, 15 Airbus A320-family aircraft and three Embraer E190-E1s. The 787s are leased from China Aircraft Leasing Company. It also has 10 787-9s on order in a deal made in 2019.

Prior to the pandemic, Bamboo and Vietnam Airlines were the only carriers serving Australia from Vietnam—until the arrival of LCC Vietjet and its Airbus A330-300. For the week of Oct. 23 2023, Bamboo' seat share to Australia has fallen from 29.1% to 11.6% year-over-year, according to CAPA – Centre for Aviation and OAG Schedules Analyser data. Similarly, Bamboo has also failed to pose a challenge to flag-carrier Vietnam Airlines on European routes—only holding a 24.2% seat share to Frankfurt, with Vietnam Airlines taking the remaining 75.8%.

Bamboo is currently mired in a protracted restructuring campaign, which started with the 2022 arrest of Trinh Van Quyet, its founding chairman. The carrier just appointed its fourth director general of 2023, Luong Hoai Nam, on the heels of the departure of his three predecessors.