Vietnam's VietJet and CFM International today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to extend the airline's current long-term support agreement to include potential additional LEAP-1B engine orders. Once fully executed, the agreement, which includes spare engines, could have a value of up to $5.3 billion U.S.
The signature ceremony was witnessed by French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe currently visiting Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Rate per Flight Hour agreements are part of CFM's portfolio of flexible aftermarket support offerings. Throughout the term of the agreement, CFM would guarantee maintenance costs for all VietJet's LEAP-1B engines on a dollar per engine flight hour basis.
Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietjet has been a CFM customer since it commenced operations in late 2011 with CFM56-powered aircraft and currently operates a fleet of 65 CFM56-powered aircraft.
"The LEAP-1B has been doing extremely well in commercial service in the last 18 months and we believe the engine will prove to be an important asset for VietJet over the long term," said Philippe Couteaux, vice president of Sales and Marketing for CFM International. "Over the past seven years, CFM has worked closely with VietJet on its CFM56 fleet to introduce several support programs in terms of technical management, training, and fuel efficiency. We look forward to extending this to the LEAP-1B fleet. We certainly appreciate the high level of confidence this agreement shows in CFM and we look forward to further strengthening this very special relationship in the years to come."
Source: Safran S.A. (Paris: SAF.PA)
Date: Nov 6, 2018
