Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of VietJet Air rank 55th in Forbes' list of top 100 most powerful women 2017
According to Forbes, the Vietnam's first self-made woman billionaire took her budget airline, VietJet Air, public in February 2017. She launched the airline in 2011 which currently offers 300 flights a day, operates more than 40% of the nation's flights.
Educated in Russia in the 1990s, Thao also has investments in HD Bank and real estate including three beach resorts. Her interests extend to property development, with a USD1 billion mixed-use project called Dragon City on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City.
With net worth estimated at 1.95 billion USD, Thao is ranked at 1,678th in the billionaire list of Forbes, and the second Vietnamese dollar billionaire, after Vingroup's chairman, Pham Nhat Vuong.
Last year, the airline launched a Thailand subsidiary, Thai VietJet Air which operates the existing routes between Bangkok and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, before expanding to Danang. The airline is enjoying a booming market in Vietnam which was Asia’s fastest growing domestic market in 2015, according to the CAPA Centre for Aviation.
According to the airline, VietJet carried over 14 million passengers in 2016. It continued to post positive growth last year with a revenue of over VND27.5 trillion (US$1.2 billion) and a profit of almost VND2.4 trillion (US$105 million).
The airline expects passenger numbers to reach 15 million this year and revenue to double.
At the top of the list the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2017 of Forbes is the Prime Minister of Germany Angela Merkel. While in the list of Most powerful women in Business is the CEO of US General Motors Mary Barra.
