Vietnamese carrier Bamboo Airways has signed a firm deal to buy 50 Airbus A321Neo planes, its chairman Trinh Van Quyet said on Thursday.
The first of the planes will be delivered in 2022, Quyet told Reuters for its expansion in one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets.
Quyet said the agreement includes the 24 planes covered by a memorandum of understanding signed with Airbus last March.
“We have chosen Airbus as the supplier of narrow-bodied planes, while using wide-bodied aircraft from Boeing,” Quyet said.
Bamboo Airways, owned by property and leisure company FLC Group, plans to launch its first international flights late next month, initially to Japan, Singapore and South Korea, he said.
As reported by Bloomberg, in February, Bamboo signed a contract to purchase 10 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners worth about $3 billion during President Donald Trump’s visit to Hanoi for his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. In June, the airline signed a commitment for 20 Dreamliners with a list price of $5.6 billion.
Bamboo also plans to launch non-stop flights to the United States late this year or early next.
Last month, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Vietnam complied with international aviation standards, allowing the country’s carriers to fly to the United States for the first time and codeshare with U.S. airlines.
