Bamboo Airways currently uses six leased Airbus aircraft while VietJet's fleet includes 20 owned Airbus and 44 that are leased.
On Wednesday, February 27, the two Vietnamese aviation carriers signed two contracts, worth a total of US$15.7 billion, with Chicago-based plane manufacturer Boeing, Bloomberg reports. VietJet's contract, worth US$12.7 billion, is an order of 100 B737 MAX planes, 80 of which are the newest 737 MAX 10 and the rest are 737 MAX 8. These planes are expected to be delivered in the course of four years from 2022 to 2025.
Bamboo Airways ordered 10 wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliners and is considering an additional 25 narrow-body 737 MAX from Boeing.
The deal signing ceremony was witnessed by General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and US President Donald Trump.
According to the news source, Boeing has been involved in the efforts to get Vietnam's safety aviation standard approved in early February, which would allow Vietnamese carriers to launch direct flights to the US and engage in codeshare agreements with American carriers.
Despite having plans to purchase new planes this year to renew its fleet and prepare for future long-range flight routes to the US, Vietnam Airlines didn't sign any deal with Boeing at the summit. Instead, the national flag carrier signed a US$300 million strategic partnership deal in airline information technology with US company Sabre.
[Photo via Boeing]
