Dubai - Vietjet handler - AVweb

Vietjet Places $3.6B Order for 30 Airbus A321s

Vietnamese low-cost carrier Vietjet helped break an order logjam at the Dubai Airshow yesterday by announcing a firm order with Airbus valued at $3.6 billion to purchase 30 A321 narrowbody airliners. The order is the third the carrier has made with Airbus over the past two years. Hanoi-based Vietjet, which launched operations in 2011, now operates 29 A320-series aircraft, including three A321s, on a network covering Vietnam and destinations in Asia. The carrier signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus in Paris in September 2013 to purchase 92 Airbus aircraft and lease eight. Earlier this year at the Paris Air Show, it placed a firm order with Airbus for six more A321s. The transaction announced at the Dubai Airshow covers 21 A321neo and nine A321 current engine option airliners. The announcement came an hour later than scheduled, as the two parties conducted last-minute negotiations. John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer for customers, said the order is firm, and not a confirmation of an earlier option. “It’s not a rehash of anything else; it’s an incremental order,” Leahy said.