VietJet profit gains on overseas growth, more routes

VietJet Aviation, the Vietnamese carrier that handed Boeing a US$12.7b aircraft order this month, said Q2 profit jumped after more people flew its international flights. Q2 pre-tax profit rose 44% from a year earlier to VND950b (US$41m), said Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, VietJet’s founder and CE. Revenue gained 52% to VND8.6t, aided by record sales of in-flight food and insurance purchases, she said. VietJet, with 60 Airbus narrow-body planes in service, has another 370 single-aisle airplanes on order from Boeing and Airbus as it undertakes one of the biggest international expansions by a budget airline in Southeast Asia. The carrier faces competition in the region from Indonesia-based Lion Air and Malaysia-based AirAsia Group, both companies also big customers for single-aisle aircraft. <br/>