About Mrs Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao & Vietjet Air timeline

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao was born in 1970 in a family of Hanoi origin

According to Bloomberg News, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao earned her first $1 million when she was only 21 years old, by selling fax machines and rubber plastic.

Her airline, Vietjet Air founded in 2007, is an international low-cost airline from Vietnam and now it become bigger than flag carrier Vietnam Airlines as measured by passengers carried.

The airline's maiden flight was eventually launched on 25 December 2011, flying from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

The airline launched its first international flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok, becoming the first Vietnamese private airline to enter the international market.

On 28 February 2017, Vietjet completed its public listing and officially became a fully listed entity on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE), making it the first airline in Vietnam to be listed on the bourse.

The airline's market capitalization stood at $1.2 billion, accounting for 1.5 percent of HOSE's capitalization as of 15 February 2017.

In the same year, Mrs. Phuong Thao is recognized as the first female billionaire in Vietnam and Southeast Asia by the Forbes magazine.

In 2021, Ms. Thao, on behalf of SOVICO group, signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to donate £155 million to Linacre College of the University of Oxford system. In response, the school applied to the Privy Institute to change its name to Thao College.