Interview with Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, interviewed by Laura Phillips Sawyer, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

In this interview, Madame Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, who has a background in finance and trading, explains how she entered the aviation industry and became the President and CEO of Vietjet Air, the first privately-owned, low-cost, international airline in Vietnam. Madame Thao speaks at length about how she navigated legal, regulatory, and even social challenges to build the successful airline business. Indeed, she explains that, after finally receiving the first private license in the aviation industry, she then had to build a consumer base in a country in which most people had never travelled by air. "Before we joined the industry," she says, "only one percent of the Vietnamese population had access to air travel; it was perceived as expensive and only for the rich." Madame Thao was out to disrupt this notion of air travel by offering safe, but inexpensive flights, not only throughout Vietnam, but across Southeast Asia. In the interview, she also discusses some of the strategies used by Vietjet Air to educate first-time flyers on how to purchase tickets, prepare travel documents, and check baggage. Madame Thao concludes the interview by discussing in more detail her background in finance. She was part of the team to launch the first private bank in Vietnam, less than thirty years ago, and she explains how, as with Vietjet Air, one strong motivation for getting involved in the banking industry was the large, under-served segment of the population, and the desire to expand access to banking services. Madame Thao also reflects on some of the ways that her training in finance has helped streamline operations at Vietjet Air. Madame Thao also stresses that, from the beginning, she envisioned Vietjet Air as not only a domestic airline, but one that one that would be fully integrated in the international aviation industry. She explains how she continually pushed for regulatory change in state-owned and government agencies in order to improve operating standards in Vietnam. The result has not only benefitted Vietjet Air, she says, but has also had the broader impact of attracting more foreign investors to enter the Vietnamese aviation industry.