Bamboo Airways, the "hot seat" story and the desire to transform

(Dan Tri) - From 2022 to now, Bamboo Airways has changed its Board Chairman 5 times. On the restructuring journey, the airline said there have been more positive changes.

The times of changing "hot seats" in the Board of Directors of Bamboo Airways

Bamboo Airways Joint Stock Company was officially established on May 31, 2017, with a charter capital of 700 billion VND, 100% contributed by FLC Group.

The airline took off its first flight on January 16, 2019 and is the first private airline in Vietnam to provide high-quality services following the traditional airline model (full service carrier). After its launch, the airline impressed with maintaining a high average on-time performance (OTP).

Since its establishment, Bamboo Airways has been a project that former FLC Chairman Trinh Van Quyet has put a lot of effort into. Mr. Quyet has repeatedly mentioned the IPO plan (initial public offering) with a price no lower than VND60,000, corresponding to a capitalization of nearly USD5 billion.

After being arrested in late March 2022, Mr. Trinh Van Quyet authorized Ms. Vu Dang Hai Yen, Deputy General Director of FLC Group at that time, to represent him in carrying out related work. In particular, Ms. Yen was authorized to hold the role of Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Bamboo Airways and Mr. Quyet's shareholder rights at this airline.

One day after announcing Ms. Yen as Chairwoman of Bamboo Airways, FLC announced the appointment of Mr. Dang Tat Thang as Chairman of the Board of Directors of this airline from March 31, 2022. Four months after taking office, Mr. Thang submitted his resignation as Chairman and General Director for personal reasons, citing many tasks that needed to be resolved, so he could not arrange to perform the tasks in his current position.

Bamboo Airways is a project that former FLC Chairman Trinh Van Quyet put a lot of effort into (Photo: Tien Tuan).

After Mr. Thang left, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Trong was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bamboo Airways from August 2022. Mr. Trong is a leader who has been with this airline since its inception, and was also the first Deputy General Director of Bamboo Airways from 2018, and then held the position of Vice Chairman of Bamboo Airways from April 2022. Mr. Trong held this position for 10 months, and in June 2023, he also resigned for personal reasons, when the 2019-2024 term had not yet ended.

At the 2023 annual general meeting of shareholders held at the end of June 2023, Bamboo Airways announced the appointment of Mr. Oshima Hideki as Chairman of the Board of Directors. However, a few days later, Mr. Hideki resigned from this position and has been serving as Senior Advisor to the Board of Directors of Bamboo Airways until now.

The airline then announced that Mr. Le Thai Sam would take over as Chairman of the Board of Directors from July 2023. In February 2024, the airline continued to issue a resolution to elect Mr. Phan Dinh Tue as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the 2023-2028 term, with the goal of accelerating the restructuring process of the airline.

Mr. Tue joined the airline in June 2023 as a member of the Board of Directors, then as Permanent Vice Chairman. He is said to have extensive experience in the fields of finance and banking and has served as Deputy General Director of Sacombank since 2012. However, Bamboo Airways recently announced that Chairman of the Board of Directors Phan Dinh Tue has submitted his resignation. This will take effect immediately after the General Meeting of Shareholders approves the dismissal at the extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders scheduled to take place on July 5.

The airline also dismissed members of the Board of Supervisors, including Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Cam, Mr. Pham Van Phung and Mr. Vu Minh Tuan. All three also submitted resignation letters. Currently, Bamboo Airways' Board of Directors has 5 members, including Mr. Phan Dinh Tue, Le Thai Sam, Nguyen Ngoc Trong, Le Ba Nguyen and Ms. Le Thi Truc Quynh.

Bamboo Airways recorded many personnel changes (Photo: Tien Tuan).

On June 17, Bamboo Airways appointed Mr. Truong Phuong Thanh as the airline's Deputy General Director. Mr. Thanh has been with Bamboo Airways for a long time and held the role of Deputy General Director from 2019-2024, then left the airline. He is introduced to have many years of working and holding important positions at major aviation enterprises in Vietnam.

Ms. Le Thi Truc Quynh, Board Member and Deputy General Director of Bamboo Airways, said that Mr. Thanh had accompanied the airline during pivotal periods and his return this time is a necessary addition to the executive team during the period when Bamboo Airways is entering a period of recovery and accelerated development.

Ms. Truc Quynh also emphasized that after Bamboo Airways basically completed the first phase of the restructuring process, welcoming back employees who have been attached to and have a deep understanding of the organization is a reasonable trend and also part of the orientation to preserve corporate culture, ensuring succession in operations.

The company has also just appointed many leadership positions such as Mr. Tran Minh Viet in charge of the Information Technology Department and Mr. Vu Minh Tuan in charge of the Finance - Accounting Department.

Desire to change

At the 2024 annual general meeting of shareholders, Bamboo Airways said that in 2023, the company had a recovery in growth in production and business activities. In 2024, Bamboo Airways expects total revenue to reach VND4,857 billion and reduce losses to VND1,387 billion.

Mr. Luong Hoai Nam said that restructuring aviation is a very difficult task, but the airline still aims for 2024 to be the last year of loss-making business, and from 2025 it will break even and move towards making a profit in the following years.

Although Bamboo Airways' fleet is expected to decrease by 19% compared to 2022 due to fleet restructuring, the company's net revenue from sales and service provision will increase by 6% compared to 2022, reaching more than VND 12,300 billion. Of which, the seat occupancy rate will increase to 87%, average passenger revenue will increase by 14%, and ancillary revenue will increase by 25%.

Bamboo Airways' profit after corporate income tax in 2023 was brought to a positive level of VND236.8 billion compared to a negative level of VND19,798 billion in 2022. The airline also said that the company's total liabilities will decrease by about VND2,000 billion in 2023.

In 2025, Bamboo Airways aims to welcome more aircraft to continue to operate more strongly on domestic and international routes (Photo: Tien Tuan).

In 2025, Bamboo Airways aims to welcome more aircraft to continue to operate more strongly on domestic and international routes, creating conditions for the plan to list on the stock exchange.

After a period of restructuring, the airline said it also recorded positive changes in its business model, fleet structure, human resources structure and financial capacity. Recently, the airline wet-leased Boeing 737-900ER aircraft from BBN Airlines (Indonesia) to operate on busy routes in Vietnam as well as some destinations in Southeast Asia.

The airline also stated that it is seeking and negotiating with partners around the world to lease more aircraft, strengthen its fleet, and contribute to ensuring capacity to meet the needs of the domestic aviation market. Currently, Bamboo Airways maintains stable operations with a fleet of narrow-body aircraft, focusing on trunk routes and connecting domestic and international tourism routes.

Sharing with Dan Tri reporter , Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thien Tong, former Head of the Department of Aviation Engineering (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology), commented that Bamboo Airways was once known for its good service quality and competitive prices. However, to achieve sustainable profits, the airline needs to make strategic adjustments.

"Bamboo Airways needs to estimate and calculate correctly to have enough flights, enough passengers and make a profit to fly," said Mr. Tong. This requires the airline to optimize flight frequency and the number of passengers on each flight to ensure economic efficiency.

In terms of organizational structure, Mr. Tong suggested that the company could consider using young staff to bring fresh air and creative ideas.

In particular, this expert emphasized the potential of niche markets that Vietnam is leaving empty. Small-scale airlines can consider exploiting short routes, using small, low-altitude aircraft, only about 50-70 seats.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thien Tong believes that focusing on short flights, not competing with large airports, will help smaller airlines find their own competitive advantage. "Airlines can use smaller planes with less than 20 seats to travel between nearby regions, requiring only pilots and no flight attendants. Countries have applied this model very successfully," he said.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/bamboo-airways-chuyen-ghe-nong-va-khat-vong-chuyen-minh-20250624112231537.htm