LONDON (Reuters) -Vietnamese budget airline VietJet owes a leasing firm just over $180 million in a dispute over four planes, London’s High Court ruled on Thursday.
FW Aviation, part of London-based investment firm FitzWalter Capital, sued VietJet in 2022 over four Airbus A321 passenger jets, which were previously grounded in Vietnam.
The company had argued that VietJet was liable under the planes’ leases, which were terminated for non-payment of rent after air travel was curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
VietJet’s lawyers said that FW Aviation had recovered possession of the four planes and argued that making the airline return the planes and pay would amount to a “double penalty”.
But the High Court ruled that VietJet owed FW Aviation $181.8 million, the latest ruling in a dispute which has been playing out in courts in London, Hanoi and Singapore.
VietJet was last year granted permission to appeal against an earlier High Court ruling that it was liable to FW Aviation, which will be heard next month.
A VietJet spokesperson said in a statement: “The airline has consistently fulfilled its financial obligations to dozens of banks and aircraft lessors supporting its fleet of hundreds of aircraft.
“The dispute concerning four aircraft is isolated and exceptional.”
In a further statement on Friday, VietJet said that in addition to its ongoing core appeal, it had requested a stay of execution and that no immediate payment was required.
FitzWalter Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin, Additional reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by Franklin Paul)
