UK Court grants freeze of VietJet's global assets

A court in the United Kingdom (UK) has granted a freeze of VietJet’s global assets after an aircraft finance company sued the Vietnam-based budget airline for unpaid judgements.

The UK Commercial Court granted the worldwide asset freeze order on October 15 as FW Aviation Holdings 1 Limited (FWA) seeks to recover more than USD $250 million in outstanding court judgements linked to four Airbus A321 aircraft. The court found there was a real risk VietJet could move assets out of reach of its creditors while FWA continues its efforts to recover the money, and the arrangements of VietJet’s future aircraft order book including A330-900neo and A321neo jets.

Previously, FWA took legal action after leases with VietJet were terminated in October 21 with the UK High Court ruling in FWA’s favor. The leases covered the 4 A321 aircraft delivered to Vietjet in 2018 and 2019 under financing arrangements known as Japanese Operating Leases with Call Options (JOLCO). In April 2025, VietJet was ordered to pay around USD $181.5 million in termination payments and outstanding rent. Adding interest and costs, the debt later exceeeed USD $250 million. FWA has since recovered the four aircraft by December 2022 and have since exported them, but the debt was not settled.

During previous court proceeding, a UK judge found that VietJet had moved the value of its order book to Angelica Holding, a Cayman Islands company, that was not disclosed for more than a year.