Airports Corporation of Vietnam chairman Lai Xuan Thanh retires

Lai Xuan Thanh is no longer chairman of airport operator Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) as he retired, starting from September 1.

ACV reported the personnel change in a recent filing to the Hanoi Stock Exchange. Who will replace Thanh as ACV chairman remains unknown.

After Thanh retired, the ACV board of directors now has six members, namely Vu The Phiet, Dao Viet Dung, Le Van Khien, Nguyen Ngoc Quy, Le Thi Dieu Thuy, and Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong.

Thanh, born in 1963, has a master’s degree in state management and a bachelor’s degree in law. He was educated in Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and the Netherlands.

In mid-2017, while holding the position of director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), he was appointed by the Ministry of Transport as chairman of ACV.

At the same time, he was the representative of the state capital at ACV which manages and operates 22 airports across the country.

During Thanh’s term, ACV was assigned as investor of the Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai province.

At a meeting with a National Assembly delegation in early August, Thanh said the first commercial flight would depart from the Long Thanh airport on September 2, 2026.

ACV is also the investor of many other major projects like the Terminal 3 of Tan Son Nhat International Airport and the expansion of Terminal T2 at Noi Bai International Airport.

The corporation is to invest in projects like Terminal 2 of Dong Hoi airport (Quang Binh province), the expansion of Ca Mau airport (Ca Mau province), and the Terminal 2 of Cat Bi airport (Hai Phong city).

ACV has a charter capital of VND21,772 billion ($866.8 million), of which the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises holds 95.4%, according to the firm’s Q2 financial statement.

The corporation earned a consolidated pre-tax profit of VND7,495 billion ($298.4 million) in the first half of the year, up 44.3% year-on-year.

In the six-month period, about 54.7 million passengers passed through ACV airports, of which nearly 20.3 million were foreign visitors, up 40% year-on-year, according to its data.

ACV shares closed Wednesday at VND109,000 ($4.38) apiece.