SINGAPORE, 19 October 2018: Vietjet hosted a special event in Tokyo, last week, to coincide with the Prime Minister of Vietnam’s official visit to Japan.
The airline introduced plans for daily services on three new routes to Japan due to open this November, and signed a deal to lease more aircraft.
The Hanoi to Osaka route will commence 8 November, while the Ho Chi Minh City to Osaka route will open 14 December, and the Hanoi-Tokyo route, 11 January 2019.
Addressing the launch event, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said: “The launch of Vietjet’s routes from Vietnam to the Kansai region of Japan has great significance in sharing the task to rebuild Kansai’s economy and tourism after being devastated by a natural disaster in early September, and contributes to the tourism, trade and integration development between the two countries and in the region.”
The commissioner of Japan Tourism Agency, Hiroshi Tabata added: “It is our great pleasure to give full support to the successful launch and operation of Vietjet’s flights to Kansai International Airport in Osaka. These newly launched flights to Kansai International Airport will be a huge boost for tourism in the Kansai area and thereby contribute to the recovery of the local economy, which has been left reeling from the damage caused by typhoon Jebi. I believe that these new routes will also contribute to an increase in the number of Vietnamese visitors coming to Japan.”
Vietjet has also signed a financing agreement in Tokyo with Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited (MUL), a member of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), and the French banking group BNP Paribas. This deal will see Vietjet acquire five new aircraft, worth USD614 million.
In addition, Vietjet signed a Memorandum of Understanding valued at USD625 million with another French banking group named Natixis and many Japanese equity underwriters, which will help finance the additional aircraft. This brings the total of the agreements to USD1.2 billion.
The new planes will be delivered during the last quarter of this year and early 2019.
