Shareholders of Vietnam Airlines have approved a plan to sell and lease back four new aircraft of which the corporation will take delivery this year.

A Vietnam Airlines aircraft is parked at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Shareholders of Vietnam Airlines have approved a plan to sell and lease back four new aircraft 

Vietnam Airlines presented the aircraft sale and lease back plan for one Boeing B787-9 Dreamliner and three Airbus A350 aircraft at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on February 20. 

It also got approval for the new members of its board of directors and for changes to operation principles.

The national flag carrier expects to take delivery of a Boeing B787-9 this May and three A350s in June, September and December this year.

The aircraft sale and lease back plan will still enable Vietnam Airlines to develop its fleet as targeted but rely less on loans, especially Government credit guarantees. 

It also helps the airline cut its investment in and loans for aircraft purchases by around US$544 million compared to the previous development plan.

The plan also reduces the debt equity ratio of Vietnam Airlines from four times as of December 31, 2016 to 3.2 times by December 31 this year and less than three times in 2018.

Shareholders okayed Vietnam Airlines’ board to have six members including Japanese national Koji Shibata, Senior Vice President and Strategic Planning-Asia Pacific Director of ANA Holdings Inc. Shibata is ANA’s representative in Vietnam Airlines.

Ta Manh Hung, who represents the State’s share holding at Vietnam Airlines, got the nod from shareholders to join the enterprise’s board, replacing Nguyen Huy Trang who retired on October 1 last year.

The airline increased its chartered capital to VND12.275 trillion, equivalent to 1,227,533,778 shares with a face value of VND10,000 a share.

Last month, it became one of the biggest firms by market cap on UPCoM after it listed more than 1.2 billion shares on the market for unlisted public companies.

SGT