Vietnam’s civil aviation authority has proposed changes to the country’s civil aviation regulations to open the door to the import of Chinese Comac planes, Reuters reported Wednesday.
A document from Vietnam’s civil aviation authority said the Chinese Comac jet had not yet been granted airworthiness permits by the US and EU, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two internal documents seen by the agency, flying in Vietnam will face compliance issues. The second document shows that Vietnam’s civil aviation authority proposed to amend the current domestic regulations to allow the import of Comac aircraft from April 30 this year. However, the proposal has yet to be approved by Vietnam’s top leadership. Reported that the revision will pave the way for Vietnam to introduce Chinese Comac aircraft, thus providing more options for Vietnamese airlines.
Reuters disclosed in January that Vietnam’s leading private airline, Vietje, was considering leasing two Comac C909 regional jets. The arrival of the two aircraft, originally scheduled for mid-january, was delayed due to the aforementioned regulatory issues. According to Reuters, China has been aggressively courting international buyers for its Comac large aircraft and Vietnam is a key destination for Comac in its battle for market share. Vietnam, which is dominated by Boeing of the US and Europe’s Airbus, is interested in introducing new competitors. However, it is worth noting that Vietnam is also interested in increasing purchases of Boeing aircraft because the US has complained to Hanoi about its large bilateral trade deficit. (Yan Cheung)