Boeing seeks Vietnam plane orders as coronavirus threatens to worsen dry spell
- The move is part of Boeing’s broader strategy to target Southeast Asia, which is seeing soaring air travel demand
- But the US plane maker has still to navigate events such as the fatal 737 MAX crashes and the travel impact of the recent coronavirus outbreak
Boeing is eyeing Vietnam’s fast-growing middle class and rising travel demand to boost its aircraft sales, the American aerospace firm’s top representative said this week at the Singapore Airshow, as it battles on ongoing slump in business.
“It’s been a robust market which is growing at very, very fast rates. There are great opportunities, and clearly, a lot of activity around low-cost carriers there,” said Randy Tinseth, vice-president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, at a market outlook briefing on Monday. “As you can also see, we are starting to see more and more interest in long-haul flying [too].”
The Chicago-based company has been seeking to make strides in the Southeast Asian country – just last week, it pitched its newest largest plane in development, the Boeing 777X, to Vietnamese start-up Bamboo Airline.