The UK High Court has granted permission for VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi Noi Bai International) to appeal the outcome of a lawsuit that has exposed it to over USD275 million in damages and costs.

On October 3, 2024, Justice Simon Picken handed down his order allowing the appeal in the matter of FW Aviation (Holdings) 1 Limited v. VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Company (case no: CL-2022-000467). A VietJet spokesperson told ch-aviation that the airline "is pleased the High Court has granted leave to appeal having agreed with our views that the appeal has a real prospect of success.”

The matter concerned the lease of four aircraft, two A321-200s and two A321-200Ns, in 2018, which the Vietnamese low-cost carrier later defaulted on. UK asset fund Fitzwalter Capital subsequently acquired the security trustee's rights to the aircraft from BNP Paribas and Natixis Bank and moved to enforce those rights. That then sparked a series of ongoing litigation in courts in London, Singapore, and Hanoi involving the airline, its directors and shareholders, the banks, and FW Aviation (Holdings), a subsidiary of Fitzwalter Capital, who now hold the security trustee's rights.

Shortly after the July judgement, VietJet told ch-aviation that it would appeal. “The airline’s lawyers have identified some misinterpretations contained in the court’s initial reflection as regards critical and material events and facts of the case,” their statement read at the time. “We believe the truth will emerge in due course.”

The airline says it was negotiating with BNP Paribas and Natixis Bank to resolve the default issue when the banks abruptly and lawfully sold the position to “the unqualified lender/financing investor,” namely Fitzwalter.

The damages payable to Fitzwalter Aviation are yet to be announced by the court. However, the company is claiming over USD275 million, which includes USD107 million representing the A Line termination values on the A321neo types and USD57 million representing the same values on the A321-200s. The lessor also claims a further USD111 million, which are lease payments accumulated since terminating the leases. In addition, FWA is claiming sundry costs concerning swap breakage losses and restoring the aircraft to redelivery condition, among others.

"The effect of the termination (if valid) is to impose on VietJet a loss of well over USD275 million and a consequent gain to the lessors or lenders," the judge said at the time.

"We look forward to making our arguments before the Court of Appeal and are now even more confident we will ultimately prevail," VietJet's spokesperson added. “We are proud of our strong record in business, especially our performance during the pandemic, which was a challenging period for the aviation industry. Despite a series of government-mandated lockdowns that grounded our fleet, we were able to successfully manage all of our aircraft leases, bar the four in question in this dispute."