VietNamNet Bridge – The budget airline Vietjet Air and CFM International on November 24 signed a 12-year engine maintenance agreement in France, at the witness of Deputy Minister of Transport Pham Quy Tieu and Vietnam Ambassador in France Duong Chi Dung.

Under the $300 million agreement, CFM International, a venture between General Electric and Snecma, a unit of France's Safran SA, will provide technical assistance for 45 engines installed on 21 Airbus A320 aircraft of Vietjet.

Based in HCM City, Vietjet Air has been a CFM client since it commenced operations in late 2011 with 18 leased A320 aircraft. Earlier this year, the airline placed an $800 million order to purchase CFM56-5B engines to power 14 additional Airbus A320ceo and 7 A321ceo aircraft.

As a result, the airline’s fleet of CFM56-5B engines is up to 39. Vietjet took delivery of its first purchased aircraft on November 25.

"With this agreement, we are looking to CFM to help us keep our maintenance costs in check. They have proven themselves to be a real partner in our operations and will continue to be an asset to support our continued growth,” said Managing Director of Vietjet Luu Duc Khanh.

“We are very happy to bring all of our expertise to Vietjet and help them keep their operating costs low. This airline has accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time and we are thrilled to be such an integral part of their team,” said Mr. Gaël Meheust, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for CFM parent company Snecma (Safran).

All of Vietjet's new engines will be the CFM56-5B Performance Improvement Package (PIP) configuration. The PIP became the new production configuration for the CFM56-5B in 2011. The improvement, which is providing a 0.5% improvement in fuel burn, includes hardware changes to the core, including new high-pressure turbine blades, as well as manufacturing changes to the fan and compressor blades and vanes to improve performance retention. The engine maintains the same noise signature as the current production engine and meets current International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Committee of Aviation Environmental Protection standards (CAEP /6) requirements.

Vietjet Air, the first privately-owned airline in Vietnam, is applying the operation model of a new age airline. With the fleet of 18 Airbus A320 aircraft, Vietjet operates 150 flights per day, transporting eight million passengers in total so far. The airline is covering 28 local and international routes across the country and the region to Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, and Cambodia.

In accordance with the business development plan, Vietjet will take delivery of six to 12 Airbus aircraft every year. The airline is considering ordering from world-leading aircraft manufacturers new wide-body aircraft in order to launch international routes to Europe and expand its flight network across the Asia Pacific region.

PV