VietJetAir , Vietnam ’s first private airline, on February 12 announced that it has selected CFM International to power its A320 fleet.

Under the contract, signed on the sidelines of the current Singapore Airshow 2014, CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between GE of the US and Snecma of France, will supply VietJetAir 45 engines and maintenance service thereof in three years from 2014. The contract is valued at more than 800 million USD.

The above agreement serves as a move to implement the contract with Airbus Group for the purchase of 42 A320neo, 14 A320ceo and 7 A321ceo, plus 30 purchase rights. This order has a total value of 9.1 billion USD and was finalised in Singapore on Feb 11.

Gael Heheust, Vice President of sales of CFM International, told Vietnam News Agency’s Singapore based reporter that all of VietJetAir’s new engines will be the CFM56-5B Performance Improvement Package (PIP) configuration which provides a 0.5 percent improvement in fuel burn.

He said, “VietJetAir is an important player in Asia . They are growing fast in Vietnam . In a few years, they became an airline well-established and they are going to expand to other countries in the region”.

The CFM Vice President affirmed that his group will work hard with VietJetAir to see how to provide the latter with engines of new, efficient generation as it’s a very important contract to CFM with several hundreds of millions of dollars and it might be more in the future.

“We are really looking forward to partnering with them as they continue to build their brand in the region,” Gael Heheust added.-VNA