VietJet heads back to UK court over $250 million aircraft debt dispute

VietJet is due back in a London court on November 13, 2026, over roughly $250 million it owes aircraft lessor FW Aviation. At issue is whether the Vietnamese airline owes additional sums in a dispute over four leased Airbus A321s.

VietJet said it had lined up the money and aimed to pay by the hearing date, one of two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, but other reporting has challenged that account, saying the airline was still pursuing its case while remaining open to a settlement.

The four A321s have been back in the lessor’s hands for nearly four years. VietJet took delivery of the aircraft in 2018 and 2019 and grounded them during the pandemic. The leases ended in October 2021. FW Aviation sued the following year and recovered all four jets by December 2022, but VietJet still owed rent and lease termination payments.

In April 2025, the UK High Court ordered VietJet to pay about $181.5 million. The airline paid about $2 million the following month. Interest and costs have since pushed the debt to roughly $250 million.

On October 15, 2026, the UK Commercial Court granted FW Aviation a freeze order that restricts how VietJet can deal with assets outside Vietnam, including its rights to aircraft it has ordered. The judge ruled that VietJet had transferred nearly all the value of its aircraft order book as of December 2024 to a related company, raising the risk that creditors would be unable to collect.

A second order on October 22 gave two court-appointed receivers the power to accept new aircraft on VietJet’s behalf or direct manufacturers to deliver them to a third party. The airline has more than 500 jets on order from Airbus and Boeing. Reuters’ sources said VietJet expects to receive its first A330neo and A321XLR within weeks of resolving the dispute.The post VietJet heads back to UK court over $250 million aircraft debt dispute appeared first on AeroTime.

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