BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters) – Vietnam Airlines will issue requests to aircraft manufacturers next year to buy 50 narrowbody jets, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
The carrier last year signed a tentative deal with Boeing for 50 737 MAX planes that have yet to be finalized.
“In Vietnam we have to go through the bidding process, we have to open to others… The door is still open to everyone,” Vietnam Airlines CEO Le Hong Ha told Reuters on the sidelines of an Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines event. in Brunei. “Boeing is one of the options, they have a very good offer for us.”
Airbus and Boeing are the world’s largest manufacturers of single-seat aircraft, with Airbus’ A320neo family competing against the 737 MAX, although Chinese planemaker COMAC is trying to enter with its C919.
Vietnam Airlines’ current fleet consists of Airbus aircraft, its website showed.
The airline needs 170 new planes by 2035, its boss said.
Requests for proposals open the door for COMAC to award the C919. China has increasingly marketed its aircraft to Vietnam.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with a COMAC chief executive last week in China who said the Vietnamese market has great potential, Vietnamese state media reported.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Writing by Jamie Freed; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Christopher Cushing)
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