Quote: Vietnam Airlines today announced at the Paris Air Show that it has placed a firm order with Airbus for 16 more single aisle A321s and signed a Memorandum of Understanding for two additional A350 XWBs.
The latest A321 contract increases the total number of orders placed by Vietnam Airlines for the type to 41, of which 14 have already been delivered. The commitment for the A350 XWBs comes in addition to an existing firm order for 10 aircraft placed in December 2007. Vietnam Airlines has selected the A350-900 variant of the all-new midsize widebody.
Pleasant surprise to see this order as it was unexpected.
Mindscape From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 314 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3796 times:
Quoting CRJ900 (Reply 3): 41 x A321s eventually... will that make Vietnam Airlines the largest A321 user?
Looks like eventually they will be. VN is very happy with the A321 which will become the workhorse for their domestic and regional network.
AustrianZRH From Austria, joined Aug 2007, 1264 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 3726 times:
Quoting CRJ900 (Reply 3): 41 x A321s eventually... will that make Vietnam Airlines the largest A321 user?
Quoting Mindscape (Reply 4): Looks like eventually they will be. VN is very happy with the A321 which will become the workhorse for their domestic and regional network.
Mainline LH has 34 in operation and 27 more on order, so they will have more with 61 total.
WARNING! The post above should be taken with a grain of salt! Furthermore, it may be slightly biased towards A.
Putnik From Serbia, joined Aug 2007, 207 posts, RR: 5 Reply 8, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 3000 times:
I'm glad someone started this topic as I'd like to hear more about Vietnamese market. What are the factors which made the love affair between A321 and VN so persistent?
Usually, A321 is used as an addition to a fleet, as a larger version to an established A319/320 fleet. In this particular case it is the backbone of the fleet, 320 exist in notably smaller number and 319 are not even on a horizon.
RayChuang From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 7694 posts, RR: 5 Reply 9, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2937 times:
The A321 has at least enough range to reach much of southeastern Asia from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, are well within the range of the A321-200.
Vietsky From Vietnam, joined Nov 2008, 93 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 23 hours ago) and read 2501 times:
Nice news for VNA
Quoting Putnik (Reply 8): A321 is used as an addition to a fleet, as a larger version to an established A319/320 fleet. In this particular case it is the backbone of the fleet, 320 exist in notably smaller number and 319 are not even on a horizon.
VNA 321 currently the workhorse on the Domestic and SEA Regional routes (+ China, HongKong, Taiwan routes). It has 2 class conf. while VNA 320 only has single class Y. I think it eventually will replace all 320 by 321.
VN777 From Vietnam, joined Nov 2007, 53 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 20 hours ago) and read 2393 times:
Quoting Vietsky (Reply 10): VNA 321 currently the workhorse on the Domestic and SEA Regional routes (+ China, HongKong, Taiwan routes). It has 2 class conf. while VNA 320 only has single class Y. I think it eventually will replace all 320 by 321.
They are also used on flights to Korea and Japan from HAN and SGN. The A321 has a configuration of 16C and 168Y. VN's A320 has 162 seats, Y class only.
The A320 is mainly used on domestic sectors with no C class demand.
Quoting CRJ900 (Reply 3): 41 x A321s eventually... will that make Vietnam Airlines the largest A321 user?
After delivery of the current orders in the Airbus books US would have the biggest fleet (65) of A321 followed by LH (61), CZ (57) and VN will be no.4.
Vietnam aircraft leasing also has 10 A321 on order. I expect those also to go to VN which will give them a fleet of 51 A321's.
Lets hope VN will use those extra A321 to increase some SE-Asia flying. Its a real shame that airlines like SQ, TG and MH can fill multiple daily flights to Vietnam and VN only flies 1 x day to SIN, BKK and KUL from HAN and SGN. The marketshare VN has on routes like HAN/SGN-SIN/KUL/BKK is decreasing year over year.
Lets hope that joining Skyteam will be the first step to become more competitive. Some more positive notes: Those VN A321's are really comfortable planes with a generous pitch. Also the frequent flyer program from VN is very good compared to other programs.
VN777 From Vietnam, joined Nov 2007, 53 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 3 hours ago) and read 2087 times:
Quoting MH017 (Reply 12): Can you elaborate more on this please ? ...
The biggest benefit is the low entry level to become a gold member(highest level). You need 26.000 qualifying miles. So if you fly twice a year to Europe in Y you already have your gold card and a load of bonus miles to cash in for upgrades or tickets.
But the free upgrade to premium economy when purchasing a economy ticket when flying on the B777-200 to Europe is my personal favourite.
Vietsky From Vietnam, joined Nov 2008, 93 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (3 years 11 months 1 week 2 hours ago) and read 2051 times:
Quoting VN777 (Reply 13): But the free upgrade to premium economy when purchasing a economy ticket when flying on the B777-200 to Europe is my personal favourite.
I did not know that something for me to think about when booking to Europe.
Quoting VN777 (Reply 11): Its a real shame that airlines like SQ, TG and MH can fill multiple daily flights to Vietnam and VN only flies 1 x day to SIN, BKK and KUL from HAN and SGN. The marketshare VN has on routes like HAN/SGN-SIN/KUL/BKK is decreasing year over year.
Especially, they have a great Free and Easy 3 days 2 night package at very attractive price (good for business purpose). I love their Regional J product.
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something for me to think about when booking to Europe. 
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