SINGAPORE - Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet on Feb 22 said it had agreed to a provisional deal to order 20 A330neo wide-body airliners from Europe’s Airbus as the airline grows its long-haul route network.

The multi-billion-dollar commitment, which confirmed an earlier report by Reuters, was announced at the Singapore Airshow.

The agreement is one of the biggest deals so far at Asia’s largest aerospace event.

Demand for wide-body jets is surging as air travel rebounds after the Covid-19 pandemic.

VietJet, one of Asia’s largest low-cost carriers, said the A330-900 order will replace is fleet of leased A330-300s – an earlier model. This will be VietJet’s first wide-body purchase.

At the Singapore Airshow on Feb 21, VietJet said it had selected RTX unit Pratt & Whitney to power 19 Airbus A321neo narrow-body aircraft.

Industry sources said those are part of the dozens of similar jets the budget airline already has on order.

Airbus is anxious to prolong sales of its A330neo as it amortises upgrade costs and preserves its longstanding A330 line, which the newer A350 is gradually superseding.

The latest deal highlights the growth of VietJet, which said on Feb 21 it is expanding in destinations such as Australia, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand.

The carrier has some 108 Airbus jets and 200 Boeing jets on order, according to the two plane makers’ websites. REUTERS