BOEING AND VIETNAM AVIATION ECOSYSTEM

As the first-class sponsor for Vietnam International Aviation Expo 2022, The Boeing Corporation (USA) is gradually implementing its previous assertions about the development strategy in the Vietnamese market.

Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue and Michael Arthur, Senior Vice President of Boeing and President of Boeing International (Photo: VNA)

Boeing, founded in 1916 by two US naval engineers, is one of the largest aircraft companies and arms manufacturing corporations in the world. Products created by Boeing are commercial aircraft, spacecraft systems, military aircraft with more than 165,000 employees, serving customers in 150 different countries worldwide.

According to information from Boeing, they started approaching Vietnam in 1995, when Vietnam Airlines rented 3 aircrafts 767-300 ERs for business. Since then, they have sold aircrafts to 3 Vietnamese airlines, namely Vietnam Airlines – Vietjet Air – Bamboo Airways with the number of up to hundreds of different aircraft. Besides selling aircraft, Boeing has had many other activities in the Vietnamese market during the past 25 years. In 2007, they opened MHI Aerospace Vietnam (MHIVA), a manufacturing facility relating to the aircraft industry, which specialized in manufacturing Boeing 737 cabin flaps. In 2014, MHIVA produced 1,000 products and began to expand its facility. At present, MHIVA also assembles doors for Boeing 777 and 777X aircraft. It can be seen that Boeing has been gradually entering the potential aviation market in Vietnam with a series of different aspects.

Mr. Michael Arthur, senior vice president of The Boeing Company and president of Boeing International, visited Vietnam recently and shared about the investment and business plans in Vietnam. In an interview with a reporter, he said “We think Vietnam is a very important market, and I think the next few years will show Vietnam becoming a major aviation hub and a partner for our industry. So Boeing is determined to be a bigger part of the story in Vietnam, which is why I have come to Vietnam here today and we have opened an office in Vietnam.

We have suppliers from businesses in Vietnam that work with us directly and indirectly through other partners in Japan and South Korea, among others. So, on every new Boeing aircraft, there is a piece of Vietnam. We would like that piece to be bigger, and that’s the purpose of expanding our operation in the country.” It has been proven by a series of recent aircraft purchases and sale agreements between Boeing and Vietnamese airlines. Vietjet and Boeing previously signed an agreement to order 200 B737 Max aircraft. In 2016, Boeing and VietJet finalized an order for the airline to buy 100 of the U.S aircraft manufacturing giant’s jets, the largest purchase in Vietnam aviation history. Afterward, in 2019, Vietjet and the airplane manufacturer officially signed a major deal for the airline to purchase 100 new 737 MAX airplanes, increasing the total number to 200 aircrafts. At the 2022 Farnborough International Airshow from 18 to 22 July, Vietjet Air and Boeing have officially signed a restructuring agreement to continue a contract to purchase 200 Boeing 737 aircrafts which marked a historic milestone and created a lot more opportunities for Vietnamese Airlines and Boeing or also Vietnam and the USA.

Representatives of Vietjet and Boeing signed an agreement at the Farnborough International Airshow 2022 (Source: Vietjetair.com)

During the visit to Vietnam, Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Vuong Dinh Hue received Michael Arthur in Hanoi on May 19th. Mr. Hue said Vietnam always aims to create the best favorable conditions for Boeing and other foreign investors. With the control of the pandemic and the efforts to develop the economy, he believed that the Vietnam aviation market will recover and become one of the most attractive markets for Boeing. Responding to the honor of receiving a warm welcome from the National Assembly of Vietnam, senior vice president of The Boeing Company said that Vietnam is the first country where Boeing opened a representative office after the COVID-19 epidemic subsided. The business leader affirmed that his corporation will continue to expand activities to support Vietnam to improve its capacity through aviation training and infrastructure development. Boeing will also coordinate with Vietnamese management agencies to issue aviation certifications, and expand aviation services and supply chains.

In order to be able to access the Vietnamese aviation market more easily, Boeing has decided to become the first-class sponsor for the upcoming Vietnam International Airshow 2022 at the National Convention Center on September 15th, 16th, and 17th in Hanoi capital with the support from the government and related ministries. The exhibition is a place to gather and display all business fields revolving around the Vietnamese aviation ecosystem with the appearance of leading domestic and foreign airlines, bringing extremely intuitive and lively images. Moreover, the exhibition also includes in-depth seminars with a series of useful sharing from experts, professors, business people mastering about aerospace and the accompanying services. It can be seen that becoming a sponsor of an international aviation event in Vietnam for the first time has created a great reputation for Boeing, contributing to bringing Boeing’s image closer to more airlines in this country. Especially when Vietnam’s aviation industry has the fastest recovery and growth rate in the world.