Vietnam’s newest carrier, Bamboo Airways, which began flying last month, is set to sign a deal with Boeing to buy 10 aircraft. The signing will take place on the sidelines of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, an unnamed airline executive said. In July last year the airline had signed a provisional deal to buy 20 Boeing 787-9 wide-body jets worth $5.6 billion at list prices.
“We will sign with Boeing a deal to buy 10 Boeing 787s,” the executive said. “This is different from the deal signed earlier for 20 Boeing planes.”
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently allowed Vietnam to operate direct flights to the U.S.
Bamboo Airways and other Vietnamese airlines have expressed interest in operating direct flights to that country.
Bamboo was set up by private conglomerate FLC in 2017 with a charter capital of VND700 billion ($30 million), which it recently increased to VND1.3 trillion ($55.68 million).
Budget airline Vietjet also plans to sign on the sidelines of the summit a deal to buy 100 narrow-body Boeing aircraft.
Vietnam’s aviation industry is booming demand. The country welcomed 12.5 million air passengers last year, up 14.4 percent from 2017, according to the General Statistics Office.