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VietJet hit with global asset freeze in dispute with London investment firm FitzWalter
The freeze applies to VietJet’s assets worth up to US$251.6 million (S$323 million). ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Published Oct 19, 2026, 04:20 PM
Updated Oct 19, 2026, 04:51 PM
The Straits Times – Vietnamese low-cost carrier VietJet Aviation has been hit with a global asset freeze by a UK court after continually refusing to pay about US$250 million (S$319.9 million) of debt to a London investment firm.
FW Aviation, an arm of FitzWalter Capital, was granted the order after a High Court judge decided there was a risk the airline would attempt to hide or spend its assets. VietJet has repeatedly failed to pay the vast majority of money it owes despite a number of judgments in favour of the aircraft leasing company.
The order covers VietJet’s existing fleet – all of which is leased – as well as aircraft it has ordered but not yet received, including Airbus SE A330-900 and A321neo jets. It also extends to cabin equipment and engines on order, including from Rolls-Royce Holdings, pre-delivery payments, maintenance reserves, lease deposits and ticket sales proceeds from agents, according to the court order.
VietJet can continue to deal with its assets in the ordinary and proper course of business, though it needs court permission to do so for aircraft orders, maintenance reserves and lease deposits held outside Vietnam, the order said. The freeze applies to assets worth up to US$251.6 million.
“I have little sympathy for the claimed disruption which may arise,” to the airline’s operations, Judge Pushpinder Sani said in the Oct 15 ruling. “It will have been caused by VietJet’s own wilful refusal to satisfy the Judgment Debt and strenuous anti-enforcement efforts rather than a genuine inability to pay.”
The dispute stems from four Airbus SE jets the buyout fund assumed control of during the Covid-19 pandemic. VietJet stopped paying leasing fees to FitzWalter and continued to fly them for around a year. The debt has swelled from an initial ruling of around US$180 million in 2025 as interest and legal fees mount. Vietnam’s legal system has refused to recognise the UK court’s judgment.
VietJet declined to comment on the latest ruling. FitzWalter welcomed the ruling, saying it would prevent the airline from siphoning off more value from shareholders.
A UK judge ruled in September that receivers over the airline’s assets outside of Vietnam should be appointed so that Fitzwalter can recover its money, but the final order has not been made. FitzWalter intends to appoint Alvarez & Marsal as receivers.
VietJet has a fleet of about 112 Airbus and Boeing aircraft. It also has a large order book in excess of 300 new jets mostly from the two plane makers, according to the court order.
The judge found that VietJet had moved the value of its order book to Angelica Holding, a Cayman Islands company that appears to have no office and no staff and has “all the appearances of a classic Cayman shell company”. VietJet failed to disclose the arrangements for more than a year, the judge said. BLOOMBERG
