Vietnam drops A380 order

The Vietnamese government has dropped all plans to confirm options on the four Airbus A380s it signed up for in 2009.

Vietnamese flag carrier Vietnam Airlines cited "increased pressure of arranging capital for aircraft purchases" as a key factor, along with the slow progress on the planned Long Thanh International Airport at Ho Chi Minh City —the only Vietnamese airport with enough capacity to handle A380 aircraft.

Vietnam Airlines also has reportedly scaled down its original plan to boost fleet size to 150 aircraft over the next five years, and will instead grow to just over 120 aircraft.

The airline—which is scheduled to take delivery of eight Boeing 787-9s and 10 Airbus A350 XWBs up to 2019—said that "the world economic situation is more difficult," and that "fierce competition in the aviation market place" were both added reasons for opting out of the A380 deal.

The carrier has just under 90 working aircraft at present.

This latest cancellation comes as an added blow for Airbus's A380 program, which has seen several cancellations in Asia, including a significant six-aircraft order from bankrupt low cost carrier (LCC) Skymark Airlines.