Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways and VietJet Aviation JSC signed deals to buy 110 aircraft from Boeing Co. during President Donald Trump’s visit to Hanoi for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Bamboo agreed to purchase 10 787-9 Dreamliners worth about $3 billion, while VietJet’s order is for 100 737 Max planes valued at $12.7 billion, Boeing said Wednesday. VietJet’s 100-plane commitment was unveiled at the Farnborough air show last year.
The agreements were signed in the presence of Trump and Vietnam’s President Nguyen Phu Trong.
Vietnam’s airlines are expanding their fleets as rising incomes and the region’s growing economies are spurring many to fly for the first time, boosting demand in the Asia Pacific, whose air-travel market is projected to surpass that of North America and Europe combined. Demand in Vietnam is also expected to climb after U.S. regulators last month gave their approval to the nation’s air-safety system, making its airlines eligible to begin direct flights to the U.S. and codeshare with American carriers.
Vietnam’s jet-shopping spree is outsized for a country with a population of 95 million people, George Ferguson, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said before Wednesday’s announcement. While the main Vietnamese airlines only have 187 aircraft in service, there are another 245 planes on order, according to FlightGlobal data analyzed by Bloomberg Intelligence.
{{/usCountry}}Vietnam’s jet-shopping spree is outsized for a country with a population of 95 million people, George Ferguson, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said before Wednesday’s announcement. While the main Vietnamese airlines only have 187 aircraft in service, there are another 245 planes on order, according to FlightGlobal data analyzed by Bloomberg Intelligence.
{{/usCountry}}Separately, General Electric Co. signed a $5.3 billion deal with VietJet to service engines for 200 Boeing 737 Max aircraft on order.