Bikini Airline, VietJet Expected to IPO
April 05, 2016
Creating First Female Billionaire in Vietnam
VietJet Air, also known as Bikini Airline, is having incredible success due to stellar employee service, on-time flights and an extremely savvy CEO, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Ms. Thao believes taking risk is essential to building strong companies in order to reach their full potential. Thao, who owns 90 percent of VietJet is already a successful entrepreneur in Vietnam and has worked diligently to create a stealth marketing strategy which has resulted in VietJet growing exponentially. Thao believes that hiring experienced, highly trained pilots, a well-trained flight crew and ‘model’ employees are the perfect combination to form a first-rate staff and crew.
“The success of VietJet demonstrates that Vietnam is more than just a manufacturing hub. Companies like VietJet and HKFilm in media are defining the new growth trajectory of the country,” says Louie Nguyen, CFA, Chief Investment Officer of San Diego-based Soledad Investment Management.
VietJet has grown their customer base with numerous no-frills flights to locations throughout southeastern Asia along with the extra perk of bikini-clad models trained as flight attendants. The VietJet aircraft fleet is comprised of more than100 Airbus jets serving travelers in 23 Vietnamese cities and 10 international destinations.
In 2011 VietJet became the first privately owned consumer airline to fly in Vietnam. In December 2015 VietJet reached a milestone of carrying over 25 million passengers since their inaugural flight in in 2011. Experts now believe VietJet will IPO in 2016 with a valuation of over 1Billion USD, which would make Thao the first female Vietnamese billionaire.
If VietJet’s blistering success excites you, you may enjoy reading our three lessons from Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, VietJet’s rockstar CEO and Vietnam’s first female billionaire.
