A court in the UK has found that FitzWalter Aviation Holdings, which had a leasing agreement with Vietnam’s Vietjet, had the right to cancel said lease back in 2021. Vietjet had argued that the lease termination was illegal and had refused to allow four aircraft to be repossessed. The judgement will see FitzWalter take possession of the aircraft and attempt to recover US$180 million owed by Vietjet.
Vietjet had also argued that it should receive ‘relief from forfeiture’, however, the court found that Vietjet’s misconduct with respect to failing to hand back the aircraft was “so egregious, that VietJet should be precluded from the relief sought.”
In an information disclosure to the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange Vietjet was mostly defiant.
“…The judge ruled largely in favour of FWA in the first instance, despite VietJet being able to demonstrate the underhand scheme and bad-faith conduct of FWA and the whole Fitz Walter group, as well as its unjust exploitation of the pandemic and off-market conduct generally,” it reads.
The company goes on to say it will appeal the judgement and claims this “will not affect operational stability and financial stability”.
Vietjet, which trades on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange under the ticker VJC, closed up 1.61 percent Friday. Foreign investors currently hold about 15.27 percent of the airlines shares.
Of note, Vietnam’s airline industry has been struggling since COVID on the back of regulated ticket prices and rising costs. Vietjet did appear to be doing better than its domestic counterparts but this latest development may change that.