VietJet Air currently operates Airbus A320 and A330 aircraft.
SINGAPORE--As part of plans to establish an in-house maintenance organization, Vietnamese low-cost carrier VietJet Air plans to launch an MRO facility by 2026 to service third-party operators.
Speaking at Aviation Week’s MRO Asia-Pacific conference on Tuesday (Sep. 26), Michael Hickey, group chief operating officer at VietJet, says the airline envisages the facility supporting both narrowbody and widebody aircraft to reflect the airline’s fleet, which is comprised currently of Airbus A320 and A330 variants.
“Because we have a fleet of narrowbody and widebody aircraft, we’re going to build a facility capable of supporting both,” Hickey says.
The carrier already has contracted a hangar in “the region” where it has started undertaking its C checks for its fleet. However, Hickey didn’t disclose where the new facility would be based in Vietnam. “That gives us the period of time in which to build up the experience levels of our staff so that we can hit the ground running and be able to offer third-party services to other companies. We expect to be able to do that in 2026.”
Earlier this month, Hickey disclosed details about its plans to build a maintenance division to Inside MRO. Unofficially named VietJet MRO, the maintenance arm provides technical services for a range of Vietnam-registered aircraft up to code F including Boeing 777, 787, A330 and A350 aircraft.
From next year, VietJet will start taking delivery of a large order for 737 Max aircraft. The first 50 will be transferred to its Thai VietJet Air subsidiary.
