Vietnam’s budget airline Vietjet and France’s aerospace giant Thales will expand their cooperation in aircraft maintenance, digital aviation, artificial intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity.
The two sides signed an agreement in Paris on Sunday, witnessed by Vietnam’s General Secretary-State President To Lam and French President Emmanuel Macron, the airline said in a statement on the same day. The deal is in line with the two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership.
Under a “Repair-By-The-Hour” contract, Thales will maintain and repair aircraft electronic systems on Vietjet’s fleet of Airbus A320, A321, A321neo, A321XLR, A330, and A330neo jets. The cooperation can improve technical reliability, fleet availability, and operating efficiency, the airline said.
The two also signed a memorandum of understanding to broaden work in digital aviation, avionics, AI, and cybersecurity. They will focus on data use, secure cloud computing, predictive maintenance, and decision-support tools for airline operations.
Nguyen Thanh Son, Vietjet’s general director, said the cooperation would raise the reliability and safety of its fleet and open new areas in digital technology, AI, and cybersecurity. Pascale Sourisse, head of Thales International, said the group valued Vietjet’s trust and noted Thales’s more than 30 years in Vietnam.
The agreements were among several struck during To Lam’s France trip, part of a push to add economic and industrial substance to the two countries’ relations.
Vietjet reported a consolidated revenue of VND51.54 trillion ($2 billion) for the first half of 2026, up 44 percent from a year earlier, according to its financial statements. Net profit reached VND1.37 trillion ($52 million). The airline carried more than 13.4 million passengers on about 72,000 flights in the first half, and moved nearly 41,000 tons of cargo.