Vietnam Airlines To Order New Aircraft

Vietnam Airlines is currently poised to purchase new aircraft, according to new comments from its CEO with narrowbody jets in sight.

The Vietnamese flag carrier believes that fundamentally adding narrowbody planes to its backlog will form the final pillar of its overall fleet renewal and expansion efforts.

A total of 50 units are expected to be purchased sometime in the future, with the first request for a proposal (RFP) being put forward to Airbus and Boeing.

RFPs are common across the industry and are a crucial first step in placing a new aircraft order. They allow the respective planemaker to present a deal that may entice the customer to commit to their product.

Boeing has a reportedly good offer available to the airline, as revealed by the airline CEO in comments to Reuters. This is evident through the deal for 50 MAX jets signed on a provisional basis only last year.

Vietnam Airlines, however, believes that the opportunities are open to Airbus swooping in and providing narrowbody aircraft for its future flying.

Airbus manufactures single-aisle flying, which the company is more familiar with than anything else. Vietnam Airlines’ entire narrowbody fleet is occupied by Airbus jets, and thus, a switch to the 737 MAX would also represent a fundamental switch in strategies.

Vietnam Airlines knows it must sort out its future flying sooner rather than later, as highly valuable delivery slots are taken up by other airlines seeking a similar growth pathway.

When all is said and done, Vietnam Airlines feels its fleet will need to be in the region of 170 aircraft by the mid-way point of the 2030s, and as such, new aircraft purchases are to be required.

However, in the midst of challenges with the operating environment, manufacturers’ battles among more actually securing aircraft have seemingly never been more difficult.