Russia Seeks to Leverage Vietnam's Airbus Fleet for Domestic Airlines
The Russian Ministry of Transport is negotiating with Vietnam to lease aircraft from Vietnamese carriers and transfer them to Russian airlines, along with crew and maintenance. The head of the Russian Ministry of Transport, Andrey Nikitin, announced that relevant proposals have been sent to Vietnam and are currently under consideration.
The deal involves 'wet' leasing, where the lessor provides the aircraft, crew, and maintenance to the lessee. Vietnamese airlines predominantly use Airbus and Boeing aircraft, but the Russian side is pushing for domestic passenger aircraft like MC-21 and Tu-214 to occupy up to 100% of the Russian aircraft fleet.
This move comes after Russia's previous attempt to obtain 'wet' leased aircraft from Ethiopia in summer 2025, which did not materialize. The outcome of these negotiations with Vietnam remains uncertain, as it is unclear how Western corporations will react to this scheme.