VietJet soars with dynamic leadership

Thao, in a different way from many other successful female entrepreneurs, has provided an endless source of inspiration in helping to promote the start-up culture among local businesses and entrepreneurs. 

The avant-garde

“VietJet’s emergence is the single greatest factor in the facelift of Vietnam’s aviation industry, making this transport mode more widely popular with Vietnamese people,” said Minister of Transport Truong Quang Nghia at a recent meeting between the fledging private carrier and Ministry of Transport (MoT) leaders.

The MoT chief said that VietJet Air’s entry into the field in late 2012 broke the monopoly which existed for years in the domestic aviation market, and laid the foundation for a healthy market competition.

The carrier also gave 30 per cent of its passengers their first flying experience, many of whom could not afford the costs of higher-priced airlines.

In the past three years, VietJet CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao has met with leaders of global airline groups Airbus and Boeing to sign multi-billion dollar contracts on aircraft purchases, catching the attention of the global aircraft manufacturing industry.

Thao, who is affectionately called ‘the aviation princess’ by VietJet’s cabin crew members, is well known in the investors’ circles through a string of major merger and acquisition deals in the financial and real estate markets.

She was the founder of Vietnam’s first commercial joint stock bank and is the owner of Danang’s Furama Resort, one of premier resort properties in Vietnam. She is also the owner of Phu Long Real Estate JSC, the developer of the upscale Dragon City urban area in Ho Chi Minh City’s South Saigon area.

VietJet, with its fleet of iconic red-and-yellow planes, has been Thao’s most famous brand. In 2007, when Vietnam announced that it was ‘opening the sky’ to businesses from assorted economic sectors, Thao and her associates founded VietJet Aviation JSC with the ambition to be named among the nation and region’s most prestigious airlines. After receiving a licence to operate flight services - and amid Vietnam’s robust economic development in the first years of international integration - VietJet conceived of growing into a five-star airline.

Staff was recruited at a generous pay rate, leading domestic and foreign experts in the aviation industry were invited to work for the company, and aircraft chartering contracts were signed.

But the global economic recession of 2008 changed the company’s course. “In the circumstances of the global financial crisis, VietJet paused to carefully consider its business plan and find a more suitable growth path,” Thao said.

The new path began with a shift from a five-star business model to a new-generation airline model, allowing the passengers to self-select the services they wish to use, instead of including everything in the base ticket cost.

Sorting out the right growth model is crucial to the success of an airline. Indochina Airlines and Air Mekong, two other domestic airline ventures that launched in those heady days, are now defunct. VietJet, on the other hand, was shortlisted in its first year for “Top 5 Best New Route Launch” at London’s Budgies and Travel Awards ceremony.

The airline posted profits in its second year of operation, and in the third year, VietJet became the first private Vietnamese airline to fly to international destinations and form foreign joint ventures. Its revenue in its fifth year tripled that of its third year.

VietJet’s success is meaningful to the Vietnamese aviation market, validating the government’s open-door policy.

Thanks to the policy, air travel has reached every Vietnamese locality without the need for state capital investment, helping to propel economic, investment, and tourism sector growth in relevant locations.

A friendly workplace

VietJet’s core values are “safety, fun and friendliness, affordable price, and punctuality”.

By pursuing a community-oriented business philosophy, targeting passengers’ ‘happiness’, and giving Vietnam’s people a chance to fly, Thao and her associates spun a legend for the aviation sector.           

The rhetoric of being ‘a renovation in the aviation industry’ was backed by the strong figures the company posted since its debut.

Now, after nearly five years of operation, VietJet has led the domestic aviation market share, and more than 90 per cent of those who fly with the company become regular customers.

The private budget carrier has also brought changes to the domestic aviation market, and a heightened standard that has improved service industrywide. In parallel with an improving national infrastructure, the Vietnamese aviation has enhanced its status in the regional and international arenas.

Besides being a steadfast negotiator and a careful planner, Thao has also shown a high consideration for labour. This value is now enshrined into VietJet’s business philosophy.

“People have asked us what our recipe is for success. We point to our heart. It is our commitment, consensus, and passion in realising our business plan, and the dream of all people flying, which has driven us to surmount all hardships. We love our workplace, where team spirit and collective strength take priority,” said a VietJet executive.

This business culture is visible everywhere at VietJet’s workplace, where the concept of ‘friendliness’ translates into sincerity and a willingness to listen to customers, colleagues, and family members.

Aircraft maintenance workers told a moving story of a field visit made by Thao and some other executives, at an airport in the peak season in a year-end night.

During that trip, Thao did the cleaning work on her own with a vacuum cleaner, even picking up debris from the aircraft floor.

And, after learning of the diligence of one veteran staff member, she immediately called human resources and asked them to increase the employee’s salary.

Thao is very connected with her employees. When having celebrations, she would prepare meals for the staff and sing for them.

“We believe in having a bright future in the sky, and we are striving to build up good values for this future, through new breakthroughs in aviation services, making flying more and more popular to Vietnamese people, finding new markets, and altogether flying to future,” Thao said.