Vietjet will purchase 50 A321neo aircraft worth US$6.5 billion from France’s Airbus following an agreement inked between the two companies in Ha Noi last week.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe during his official visit to Viet Nam.

The agreement was a step forwards from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed previously by the two sides in Farnborough, the UK, Vietjet said in a statement.

Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer said the airline’s latest preference for the Airbus product was a testimony to a great endorsement for the A321 in the fast-growing market.

According to Vietjet, the new order was to realise the airline’s growth strategy and enhance the airline’s efficiency and capacity to expand its flight network, especially on international routes, and serve its development of alliances across the Asia-Pacific region, which was seeing the fastest aviation growth rate in the world.

As part of this agreement, Airbus will deploy a series of strategic partnership programmes, including training for pilots, technicians and engineers, and flight management and safety management for Vietjet. The same day in Ha Noi, Vietjet also inked a MoU valued at $5.3 billion for a long-term LEAP-1B engine support with CFM International.

The MoU includes spare engines and support packages to serve the airline’s already-ordered new and modern aircraft.

Vice President of Sales and Marketing for CFM International Philippe Couteaux said he believed that the engine would prove to be an important asset for Vietjet over the long term. CFM International has provided engines for Vietjet’s modern aircraft since the airline commenced operations in late 2011, and currently operates a fleet of 65 CFM56-powered aircraft.

Over the past seven years, CFM had worked closely with Vietjet to introduce several support programmes in terms of technical management, training and fuel efficiency, Couteaux added. With 60 A320 and A321 aircraft, Vietjet runs over 385 flights per day and has carried more than 65 million passengers on 103 routes to destinations at home and abroad.— VNS