Vietnam Airlines orders Boeing and Airbus
HANOI – Vietnam Airlines split a keenly awaited order for mid-sized passenger jets between Boeing and Airbus on Monday following a battle for market share in one of the world's fastest-growing economies after China.
The unlisted national airline said it had signed a memorandum of understanding to buy 12 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft – a deal which the U.S. planemaker valued at $1.9 billion based on catalogue prices.
Hours later, the airline signed another draft agreement to buy 10 competing Airbus A350-900XWB passenger jets during a visit to Paris by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The Airbus deal, signed in front of reporters at French Prime Minister Francois Fillon's office, also included 20 additional single-aisle A321 jets.
The Airbus deals are worth $3.8 billion at list prices including $2.4 billion for the crucial A350 order where the competition between Boeing and Airbus is at its fiercest.
Under the Boeing deal, the first 787 plane will be delivered in 2015, the state-run airline said in a statement.
The deal follows a 2005 Vietnam Airlines contract to buy four Boeing 787-8 airplanes for delivery in 2009 and 2010.
The 787 and 350 are competing head to head in one of the most promising parts of the aviation market, though Boeing has a five-year lead and a strong lead in sales over its rival.
The contest was seen as a direct comparison between the 787 and 350 because of the deferred delivery dates, with the 314-seat A350-900 not due to enter service until 2013.
Boeing's 787 is due to enter service next year and is virtually sold out until 2013.
The lightweight, fuel-efficient 787 has become Boeing's most successful plane launch in history.
The first flight is set for sometime between mid-November and mid-December after a three-month delay due to a shortage of bolts and problems programming the flight control software.
Boeing says it will stick to its May target date for delivery of the first plane to a Japanese airline, though some of the planemaker's suppliers say this will be a difficult target to reach because of the reduced time for test flights.
Vietnam Airlines said it aims to add 20 Boeing 787-8s to its fleet of 86 aircraft by 2015 and expand the Boeing planes to 28 by 2020 when its fleet rises to more than 110 planes.
It plans to open the first direct route linking Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, with Los Angeles in late 2008 with five flights weekly on Boeing 777-200 ERs.
Also in Paris, France's Bouygues and Alstom won a 190-million-euro ($270.5 million) contract to help build a power station in Vietnam.
By Ho Binh Minh - Reuters - October 1, 2007.
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