Vietjet upgrading order to A321neo fleet

Fabrice Brégier, Airbus chief operating officer and president of Commercial Aircraft (middle) received a warm welcome by Vietjet vice president Nguyen Thanh Hung (left) and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (right) during his visit to Vietjet’s head office in Ho Chi Minh City

The upgrade order was a result of the recent agreement signed between Vietjet president and CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao and Fabrice Brégier, Airbus chief operating officer and president of Commercial Aircraft. Accordingly, the airline has a total of 73 A321neo and 11 A321ceo on order for future delivery.

Closing a successful 2017 with a tremendously improved repertoire of new domestic and international flight routes as well as skyrocketing passenger count, Vietjet’s optimism knows no bounds in 2018.

The low-cost airline has been one of the world’s most dynamically growing aviation companies, posting impressive achievements throughout the past year and setting itself up for even better business in the year ahead.

Updating the order to the Airbus A321 model and receiving the first A321neo model in all of Southeast Asia is not only a tremendously effective publicity stunt: the new airplanes will be a valuable addition to Vietjet’s budding fleet, reinforcing the already market-leading advantages of the airline.

While sporting the very latest in engine design, advanced aerodynamics, and cabin innovations, the new aircrafts will help further streamline operations by increasing efficiency and reducing costs (a whopping 16 per cent from day one and 20 per cent by 2020 in fuel consumption just from the new-generation GTF engines), the very areas that a modern airline’s business hinges on.

Vietjet Management Board welcomes the delivery delegate of A321neo, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, at Tan Son Nhat International Airport

“The A320neo aircraft has greatly contributed to Vietjet’s impressive operation performance with the airline’s technical reliability rate standing at 99.6 per cent in 2017. The aircraft family has also helped us maintain some of the lowest operating costs in the airline world,” said Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, president and CEO of Vietjet. “The upgraded A321neo deal once again emphasises Vietjet's ceaseless efforts to modernise our fleet. We believe that the technical reliability rate and other operation and safety indexes will continue to increase in order to bring maximum comfort, joy, and safety to our valued passengers.”

The upgraded models are expected to bring further gains in all indices related to efficiency, operations, and safety. The new GTF engines alone will cut fuel expenses and reduce noise by 75 per cent and emissions by 50 per cent—without counting improved aerodynamics.

Vietjet president and CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (right) together with vice president Dinh Viet Phuong (left) and vice president Luong The Phuc (middle) boarding the new aircraft

“We are proud when a dynamic airline like Vietjet endorses our products,” said Fabrice Brégier, Airbus chief operating officer and president of Commercial Aircraft. “The A321neo combines higher capacity with the lowest operating costs in its class, offering unbeatable efficiency. This aircraft will be a real asset in Vietjet’s expansion plans in such a fast-growing market. We look forward to seeing the A321neo flying in Vietjet colours.”

Passengers stand to gain tremendously from the larger airplanes with more spacious and top-of-the-line cabin design, providing for improved comfort at extremely competitive prices.

As Vietjet has 73 A321neo and 11 A321ceo planes on future delivery, the new airplane line stands to revolutionise the carrier’s entire fleet operations—not only by more than doubling its fleet, but by reducing average expenditure by aircraft, and promising opening a myriad new direct routes to exciting and popular destinations around the world.

Klaus Röwe, Airbus senior vice president of A320 Family Program (left, first) handed the A321neo trophy to Vietjet vice president Nguyen Duc Thinh (left, second) and flight crew representatives at Airbus factory in Hamburg, Germany

This new agreement is nothing short of Vietjet throwing down the gauntlet to the world aviation industry by announcing that it has every plan to forge ahead and expand to new destinations.

Vietjet has already carried more than 50 million passengers and opened 78 routes in Vietnam and across the region to international destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia.

In 2018, the airline is admittedly planning to expand its network across the Asia-Pacific, a process it has already started by signing agreements with the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers and other airlines, such as Qatar Airways (interline agreement) and Japan Airlines (comprehensive partnership), not to mention the bustling activities of Thai Vietjet.

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