The agreement is a step further from theMemorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two sides in Farnborough, theUK, previously.
Vietjet President and CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thaoand Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer represented both partiesto sign the contract.
Scherer said the airline’s latest preference forthe Airbus product is a testimony to a great endorsement for the A321 in thefast-growing market.
The new order is to realise Vietjet’s growthstrategy and enhance the airline’s operation efficiency and capacity to expandits flight network, especially on international routes, and serve itsdevelopment of airline alliance across the Asia-Pacific region, which sees thefastest aviation growth rate in the world.
As part of this agreement, Airbus alsodeploys a series of strategic partnership programmes, including training forpilots, technicians and engineers; flight management and safetymanagement for Vietjet.
The same day in Hanoi, Vietjet CEO Thao and VicePresident of Sales and Marketing for CFM International Philippe Couteauxsigned a MoU for a long-term LEAP-1B engine support worth 5.3 billion USDaccording to the manufacturer’s list price.
The MoU includes spare engines and supportpackages to serve the airline’s already-ordered new and modern aircraft.
CFM International has provided engines forVietjet’s modern aircraft since the airline commenced operations in late 2011with CFM56-powered aircraft and currently operates a fleet of 65 CFM56-poweredaircraft.
“The LEAP-1B has been doing extremely well incommercial service in the last 18 months and we believe the engine will proveto be an important asset for VietJet over the long term,” Couteaux said.
Over the past seven years, CFM has workedclosely with VietJet to introduce several support programmes in terms oftechnical management, training, and fuel efficiency.
With 60 A320 and A321 aircraft, Vietjet runsover 385 flights per day and has carried more than 65 million passengers on 103routes to destinations at home and abroad.-VNA