Vietnam Airlines chief executive Pham Ngoc Minh denied pilots of his airline are being underpaid after a large number of pilots attempted to resign.

"The current monthly wage is about VND200m, much higher than the wages of other profession. Moreover, Vietnam Airlines is still a state-owned enterprise so they can't be too demanding like in private companies." Minh said.

Minh said pilots should think about Vietnam per capita income and whether they can live well with such wage in Vietnam.

Since 2014, many pilots have attempted to resign, the main complaint being that local pilots earn about VND80m (USD4,000) per month, while equally qualified foreign pilots' with the airline earn from USD8,000 to USD13,000. They want to move to another airline offering higher wages.

Vietnam Airlines argued it has to spend some VND2.5bn per pilot for basic training and pilots have to commit to work for at least 15 years to cover the cost.