Singapore - Vietjet bekrefter bestillingen

Vietjet confirms Airbus order

February 12, 2014 by AFP  
Filed under Aviation, News

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SINGAPORE, 12 February 2014: Fledgling carrier VietJetAir on Tuesday ordered 63 Airbus A320 jets with a list price of US$6.4 billion in a massive expansion programme that underscores Asia’s central role in the future of world aviation.
The deal, signed on the opening day of the Singapore Airshow, also covers rights to acquire, or lease 38 more A320s, potentially boosting the budget carrier’s current fleet of 11 A320s tenfold.
“The A320 has proven to be extremely efficient in service with VietJetAir and is a favourite with our passengers,” the firm’s managing director Luu Duc Khanh said in a press statement issued by Airbus.

Fabrice Bregier (C) President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airbus presents an Airbus model to Nguywen Thi Phuang Thao (R) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VietJetAir while John Leahy (L) Chief Operating Officer (COO) looks on after a signing ceremony during the Singapore Air Show.

The Vietnamese airline, founded only in 2011, plies domestic routes as well as services to Bangkok, Seoul and Kunming in China with its current fleet of leased planes.
“We look forward to developing our business across the Asia Pacific region,” Luu said, adding that Airbus would be a “strategic partner” in its regional expansion.
Fabrice Bregier, the president and chief executive of Airbus, said the order “reinforces the A320 family’s position as the preferred choice in the single aisle market, both for full service and low cost carriers.”
“We look forward to working with VietJetAir as it brings ever more affordable air travel to the fast growing Southeast Asian market,” he said in the statement.
In addition to the 63 A320s on firm order, VietJetAir has rights to buy 30 more and lease another eight from third parties for a total of 101 new planes.
Bregier said at a media briefing that the carrier may need even more orders because of the explosive growth in passenger traffic in Vietnam.
“In Asia, we expect a (passenger traffic) growth year-on-year of close to 6% for the next 20 years. In Vietnam, it will be close to 30% year-on-year. This is really impressive.”
He described VietJetAir as a “rising star” in Southeast Asia’s low-cost carrier market.
There have been more than 10,100 orders and 5,900 deliveries of the A320s since it hit the market to over 300 customers and operators, making it the world’s best-selling single-aisle aircraft, according to Airbus.
Nguyen Thanh Hung, VietJetAir vice chairman, said that in just two years of operation, the airline already has 26.2% of the domestic market and has carried 4.3 million passengers.
The carrier says that on average it fills 90% of all available seats.
Chu Viet Cuong, a member of VietJetAir’s board of directors, told AFP the airline will fund the purchases with money arranged by international financial institutions.
French bank BNP Paribas will arrange financing for the first three aircraft deliveries, he said.