That is the content of the official dispatch sent by the Government Office to the Minister of Finance, the Ministry of Construction and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Airlines to inform Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc of the opinion of the airline's narrow-body aircraft investment project.

Considering the proposal of Vietnam Airlines and the opinions of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Construction on Vietnam Airlines' narrow-body aircraft investment project, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc agreed in principle to purchase aircraft without providing a Government guarantee; Vietnam Airlines takes full responsibility according to the law.

Previously, Vietnam Airlines proposed to the competent authority to invest in a project to buy 50 narrow-body aircraft of the Airbus A320 NEO or Boeing 737 MAX series and 10 spare engines. The total investment of the project is about 3.697 billion USD, equivalent to 92,810 billion VND.

To help arrange suitable investment capital for the project of purchasing 50 narrow-body aircraft, Vietnam Airlines proposed a plan to implement the sale and leaseback of the first 25 aircraft received in the period 2028 - 2030. The airline will use equity capital combined with loans to purchase with a loan ratio of 50% of the aircraft purchase price for the remaining 25 aircraft received in the period 2030 - 2031.

In the 2018 - 2020 period, Vietnam Airlines reported to competent authorities on the implementation of the project to invest in 50 narrow-body aircraft in the 2021 - 2025 period.

This fleet is aimed at expanding the short and medium-haul network in key markets such as Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and domestically - where transportation demand is growing rapidly and competition is increasingly fierce.

However, the severe difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have caused the airline to temporarily suspend the project. Since 2023, when the aviation market has recovered, Vietnam Airlines has restarted the project to purchase 50 narrow-body aircraft.

On September 11, 2023, during US President Joe Biden's visit to Vietnam, Vietnam Airlines and Boeing Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding on the sale of 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft worth 10 billion USD.

The two sides will closely coordinate to research, evaluate, and promptly report to competent authorities for consideration, as a basis for promoting the negotiation process and completing Vietnam Airlines' investment procedures.

On April 23, Vietnam Airlines and the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in arranging capital for the project of investing in 50 narrow-body aircraft.