VietJet Aviation and AirAsia are reportedly in talks to acquire as many as 100 Airbus aircraft each, sources at the reigonal budget carriers say, in deals that could be announced as early as the Paris Air Show next week.
VietJet is looking to buy more of the A321neo model, the highest-capacity single-aisle jet that Airbus makes, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential.
Discussions are ongoing, and any deal could still be delayed or fall apart, the people cautioned. Exacutives at Airbus declined to comment, while VietJet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
AirAsia, meanwhile, is said to be in advanced discussions to place an order for at least 100 Airbus jets at the Paris show, a deal likely to mark the introduction to its fleet of the planemaker’s smallest jet, the A220.
Malaysia-based AirAsia operates an all-Airbus fleet and has previously said it was looking to add smaller planes to its fleet for regional routes.
One of Airbus’s biggest customers with a few hundred planes already on order, AirAsia has not placed an order since before the pandemic.
It has taken few deliveries in recent years and has been steadily restructuring its order book as it faced financial difficulties.
The company, hard hit by pandemic travel restrictions, was classified by Malaysia’s stock exchange as financially distressed in 2022. It says it hopes to exit this status by the middle of this year
Capital A, the holding company for the airline, plans to sell its AirAsia aviation business to long-haul unit AirAsia X to consolidate long and short-haul operations under a single AirAsia brand.
VietJet eyes more Europe routes
VietJet, meanwhile, has become a prolific buyer of Airbus aircraft, with deals including a commitment to double its fleet of A330neo widebody planes to 40, some which will be used to expand long-haul flights into Europe.
Should the airline follow through with a purchase at the Paris Air Show that opens on June 16, its backlog could stretch to close to 500 jets. That would put VietJet in the same league of carriers including Air India and IndiGo, which are aggressively bulking up their fleets to meet surging demand for air travel.
VietJet had previous ordered 120 Airbus single-aisle jets and has almost 115 planes from the European planemaker already in operation. The carrier also has 200 Boeing 737 Max aircraft on order.
However, the spending commitments come amid a legal battle in a London High Court case with the aircraft leasing arm of the buyout fund FitzWalter Capital over a $180-million judgement. VietJet has claimed the sum it owes could push the carrier into financial difficulties.
VietJet’s Airbus planes mainly serve domestic routes and regional destinations like China, Thailand and South Korea as well as Australia, India, and Kazakhstan.
The carrier is majority owned by businesswoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, who has a net worth of about $1.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.