Vietnam plans to change certification rules to allow COMAC aircraft to operate
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) plans to start accepting COMAC commercial aircraft certification issued by its Chinese counterpart, the CAAC.
According to Reuters, the regulator intends to change the current legislation from April 30, which would allow aircraft such as the C909 regional jet (ex-ARJ21) and the C919 to be operated by Vietnamese airlines.
The move would be a major victory for COMAC, which is seeking to close deals for its planes to be sold to another external customer – so far only Indonesia’s TransNusa flies two C909s.
Vietnam’s current regulations only recognize type certificates from the US FAA and the European EASA. With the change, documents issued by the CAAC would also be accepted in the same way.
Trade war with Trump
Like several countries, Vietnam has also been threatened with tariffs by the Trump administration, as it has a large trade surplus with the United States.
On the other hand, the state-owned carrier Vietnam Airlines has a Memorandum of Understanding for 50 Boeing 737 MAX jets signed in 2023, while VietJet closed two deals for 200 of these aircraft in 2016 and 2018.
This argument will be used by a mission that will travel to Washington in the coming days to avoid new import tariffs.
VietJet intended to operate two C909s since January on a leasing basis with Chengdu Airlines, but the lack of regulatory approval caused the deal to be postponed indefinitely.
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Creator of the website that started in 1996 as a magazine. He also writes on Brazilian websites AUTOO, MOTOO and MetrôCPTM.
