FLC founder takes over as president and CEO of Bamboo Airways amid ambitious expansion

Bamboo Airways has announced that FLC Group chairman Trinh Van Quyet will take over as president and CEO of Bamboo Airways from March 4, 2019.

FLC Group said in a statement that Quyet's decision "affirms FLC's strong determination in promoting the sustainable development of Bamboo Airways in line with its roadmap in order to best serve domestic and national passengers."

Dang Tat Thang, former CEO of Bamboo Airways will retain his position as deputy general director of FLC Group.

Bamboo Airways is wholly-owned by the FLC Group, a Vietnamese multi-industry company, focusing on aviation, real estate, resorts, farming, and golf. FLC, of which Quyet is a founder, has developed a number of large resort in Thanh Hoa, Binh Dinh and Quang Ninh provinces.

Bamboo Airways' management board now includes vice president and deputy general director in charge of finance Duong Thi Mai Hoa who used to work for Vingroup, VIBank and ABBank.

Last month, Bamboo Airways appointed three deputy general directors at the same time, including Eddy Doyle in charge of flight operation, Mai Dinh Toan taking care of the technical and maintenance unit and Bui Quang Dung in charge of running the office's activities. Bamboo said that all three directors have experience in the field of aviation for tens of years.

Bamboo Airways has announced that it will open three new routes from Hanoi to Dalat, Pleiku and Can Tho on March 10, bringing the total number of its domestic routes to 17.

The carrier plans to launch at least four other domestic routes since next months and operate international routes to Singapore in April as well as to Japan and South Korea in May this year.

The airline started the first commercial flight on January 16, 2019 and since then it has conducted over 1,000 safe flights.

"In the period from March to May 2019, Bamboo Airways will increase the fleet size to over 20 aircraft, including Airbus and Boeing, to expand domestic and international routes. This is an important step in the plan of increasing the total number of planes to 40 to 50 this year," FLC stated.

On the sidelines of US-North Korea summit in Hanoi last week, Bamboo Airways confirmed an order for ten 787-9 Dreamliners valued at $3 billion according to list prices.