VietNamNet Bridge – The aviation boom in Asia has caught the attention of international finance groups, who are willing to provide loans to fund aircraft purchase deals. And Vietnam is attracting a disproportionate share of that interest.

High flyers from Europe, US land in Vietnam

Vietnam Airlines, the national flag air carrier, took receipt of two Airbus 321s on March 10, part of the order it placed with the European aircraft manufacturer in 2009. The deal was facilitated by a $112 million loan from HSBC and Deutsche AG,  two of the world’s biggest lenders in commercial aircraft financing. Others in the field include the US Bank of America, Natixis, and  French BNP Paribas.

The French bank is now partnered with 128 air carriers and aircraft chartering corporations all over the world. It has made the financial arrangements worth tens of billions of dollars for the procurement of 125 aircrafts  of various kinds over the last two years.

It is BNP Paribas which arranged the loans for VietJetAir’s $270 million deal for three aircraft, the delivery of which is expected later this year.

Analysts have observed that the current climate is a good one for Vietnamese air carriers to obtain loans for aircraft procurement deals, to realize their plans to expand the fleets.

Asian finance groups jump on the bandwagon

Analysts have also noted that more and more Asian banks and finance leasing companies have jumped on the bandwagon. And the appearance of the Asian finance groups is creating cutthroat competition in the aviation funding market, with the effect of narrowing lenders’ profit margins.

Jean-Francois Lascombe, a senior executive of Natixis said that nowadays, finance groups from Europe and the US can no longer dominate the aircraft procurement funding field, as banks from China, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand are now jumping into the fray.

Asian finance groups are realizing that the business of fund aircraft procurements is a lucrative one, due to the increasingly high demand for aircraft from the Asian carriers. It is expected that Asian nations will need to purchase 13,000 aircraft, worth $1.9 trillion US, over the next 20 years.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of China have all set up finance companies in charge of funding aircraft procurements and leasing projects. A part of VietJet Air ’s plan to buy 63 aircraft has been funded by the China Construction Bank.

There are many more credit institutions in Asia willing to provide loans to projects in the aviation sector. These include the Development Bank of Japan, and SMBC, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

Nicolas Parrot, a senior executive of BNP Paribas, noted that the Japanese have returned to the market, which means that BNP Paribas has to look out for the Japanese when considering its deals.

Analysts say that given the appearance of many new financiers in the market, Vietnamese air carriers have more opportunities to implement their ambitious plans to expand the fleets . VietJet Air, for example, in 2013 signed a contract for the purchase of 100 aircraft.

Thanh Le