U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold their second summit in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on Feb 27-28.
Holding a signing ceremony during Trump’s visit would help emphasize strengthening economic and military ties between the United States and Vietnam.
VietJet, while not government-owned, increasingly uses state visits to showcase major plane orders balanced between Boeing and Airbus SE. It signed a deal to buy 100 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody jets when former U.S. President Barack Obama visited Hanoi in 2016.
The airline is likely to finalize next week a separate provisional deal agreed last year at the Farnborough Airshow to buy another 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets worth almost $13 billion at list prices, sources said on condition of anonymity due to an expected announcement by VietJet.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration declared last week that Vietnam complied with international aviation standards, in a move that would allow Vietnamese carriers to fly there for the first time and codeshare with U.S. airlines.
VietJet said last week it planned to purchase widebody jets capable of U.S. flights to open routes to cities with large Vietnamese communities in the United States, such as in California.
Another source briefed on the matter said the deal for 100 737 MAX jets was already on Boeing’s books, having been firmed up earlier and listed as an unidentified customer.
Boeing declined to comment. VietJet did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
VietJet operates 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to places such as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia.
