Representatives of Vietjet (left) and SR Technics (right) exchange the signed MoU. — Photo courtesy of Vietjet

SWITZERLAND - Budget airline Vietjet has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth US$150 million with SR Technics, one of the world leading providers of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services. 

The signing ceremony on Friday was witnessed by Vietnamese President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Swiss President Guy Parmelin, high-ranking dignitaries, and business representatives of both countries during the official visit of the Vietnamese President to Switzerland.

The MoU will enable SR Technics to provide MRO services on Vietjet’s CFM56-5B engines installed on their Airbus A320 and A321 fleet. The work on the engines will be carried out at SR Technics' world-renowned facilities at Zurich Airport in Switzerland. 

It will also include providing engine maintenance, technical and training services, component requirements and repair, and setting up a new Aviation training centre as a joint venture between Vietjet and SR Technics.

SR Technics' CEO Jean-Marc Lenz said a long-term partnership between Vietjet and SR Technics confirmed the airline's confidence in SR Technics’ ability and expertise to provide MRO services including engine maintenance and technical and training support in line with the highest benchmarks in the industry in terms of safety and quality.

Vietjet Managing Director Đinh Việt Phương said the MoU paved the way to further develop both sides’ cooperation, which had been nourished by a long-standing relationship between Việt Nam and Switzerland.

The same day also saw a strategic co-operation agreement signed between Vietjet and Swiss AviationSoftware (Swiss-AS), one of the world’s leading provider of aviation maintenance solutions based in Switzerland. 

The agreement aims to further extend Vietjet’s adoption of Swiss-AS’s maintenance and engineering solution AMOS to support Vietjet’s fleet.

Under the agreement, the two parties will extend their co-operation to cover various scopes, strengthening the existing long-term strategic partnership over the next ten years. Swiss-AS and its relevant subsidiaries will provide Vietjet the added platform of AMOS mobile/EXEC for aircraft technical management on mobile devices, thus allowing Vietjet’s engineers to work with full automation and digitalisation.

In addition, Vietjet will use the system with more capacity and update other AMOS modules to better serve in-house management including automation of planning, aircraft scheduling and budget management. Swiss-AS will also provide the AMOS “train the trainer” programme for Vietjet with notable frequency and scale in the future.

Fabiano Faccoli, Chief Operating Officer of Swiss-AS said his firm was looking forward to further strengthening the excellent partnership and, through its AMOS product suite and services, be instrumental in digitalising Vietjet’s Technical Operation.

"Swiss-AS shares Vietjet’s customer-focused strategy and is keen to support Vietjet to further improve productivity and quality through innovation, technology and creativity,” he said. 

For his part, Vietjet Managing Director Đinh Việt Phương said he believed that the development and constant upgrade of AMOS will enhance Vietjet’s  capabilities in fleet operation and management, thus helping us serve our customers better while optimising the airline’s operational cost.”

Vietjet selected AMOS in 2012. With AMOS, Swiss-AS has supported Vietjet in fleet maintenance and optimisation for more than 90 aircraft with up to 1,150,000 hours of safe operation, with on-time performance reaching over 90 per cent and technical reliability standing at 99.64 per cent.— VNS