VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi Noi Bai International) is preparing to order around 100 A321neo aircraft, potentially as soon as this month's Paris Air Show, according to Bloomberg. The order would be incremental to the seventy-six A321-200NX and twenty A321-200NY(XLR) jets already due for delivery to VietJet.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report says VietJetAir wants more of the manufacturer's highest-capacity narrowbody aircraft but also says talks remain ongoing with no final decision made.
Speaking at a recent shareholders' meeting, VietJet Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo told shareholders that the airline's growth strategy over the next decade includes a focus on network and fleet expansion.
VietJetAir also has a substantial B737 MAX order at Boeing and recently elected to divert fifty B737-8s to Thai VietJetAir (VZ, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi), in which it holds an 8.3% shareholding. VietJet's founding company and shareholder Sovico Group is also one part of a two-entity consortium that has acquired a 51% stake in Qazaq Air (IQ, Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev). Sovico has agreed to supply the Kazakh carrier with at least twenty MAX aircraft within the next five years. These arrangements indicate that not all of VietJetAir's significant order backlog will end up flying for VietjetAir itself.
To date, except for a pair of wet-leased C909s, VietJetAir remains an all-Airbus operator with 96 aircraft in its fleet, including seventeen A320-200s, thirty-six A321-200s, eleven A321-200Ns, twenty-five A321-200NX, and seven A330-300s. The airline flies to 55 airports in 14 countries.
