Vietnamese budget airline VietJet agreed to buy 100 passenger jets from U.S. aircraft maker Boeing for $11.3 billion, the airline said yesterday, in a deal signed in Hanoi. In a statement, VietJet said the deal was "the largest ever single commercial airplane purchase in the history of Vietnamese aviation." Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and President Barack Obama, who is on a three-day trip to the communist nation, were present at the signing. A White House official confirmed the deal for 100 Boeing jets was among a raft of commercial agreements sealed yesterday worth more than $16 billion.

"We expect this will support 60,000 American manufacturing and technology jobs." Founded in 2007, VietJet, which received attention with bikini-wearing air stewardesses, is making a major move into the lucrative Southeast Asian aviation sector. In February the carrier announced that it had signed a $3.04 billion deal with US engine maker Pratt & Whitney, underscoring the growth potential of the region's low-cost airline market.

Industry players have said that Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, is a key growth market for budget air travel, driven by a growing middle class, many of whom are travelling for the first time. U.S. aircraft maker Boeing has forecast that the region needs 3,750 new airplanes in the next 20 years, with more than three-quarters of the deliveries being the single-aisle airplanes favored by budget carriers.