Bamboo Airways CEO faces temporary exit ban as carrier fails to fulfil tax obligations

Luong Hoai Nam, CEO and legal representative of Bamboo Airways, has been temporarily banned from exiting the country as the private carrier failed to fulfil tax obligations, according to Binh Dinh province's Tax Department.

Earlier, the department sent a notice to the Immigration Management Department under the Ministry of Public Security proposing an exit ban on Luong Hoai Nam, CEO of Bamboo Airways.

The ban is effective from September 11 until the airline fulfiling its tax obligations to the state.

Nam, born in 1963, was appointed CEO of Bamboo Airways in October 2023. He has over 30 years of experience in the aviation and tourism sectors, having held senior positions at major airlines like Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific Airlines and Hai Au Aviation JSC.

He is also vice chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association and deputy CEO of Vietstar Airlines.

According to Bamboo Airways, the appointment of Nam as CEO came from a decision by the airline's new investors. "This is the latest step in the comprehensive restructuring process that the airline continues to promote, particularly regarding management and operations, towards stabilizing activities, attracting quality investment, and creating opportunities for strong development in the medium term," the carrier then stated.

At its 2024 AGM in Ho Chi Minh City in July, Bamboo Airways reported a post-tax profit of VND236.8 billion ($9.6 million) in 2023, as compared to a loss of VND19.8 trillion ($802 million) in 2022.

The company's total liabilities decreased by approximately VND2 trillion ($81 million) last year, and now, Bamboo Airways has no outstanding aircraft lease debts.

The carrier's leadership acknowledged that restructuring is a challenging task but they aim for 2024 to be the last year of losses. They plan to break even by 2025 and achieve profitability in subsequent years, with a goal of listing on a stock exchange within three years.

The carrier targets total revenue of VND4.86 trillion ($196.9 million), with losses projected to drop to VND1.39 trillion ($26.3 million) this year.

Bamboo Airways is the third-largest airline in Vietnam in terms of flights.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), Vietnamese airlines conducted 107,068 flights in the first five months of this year. Bamboo Airways came in the third position with 7,944 flights, behind national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (45,151) and private budget airline VietJet Air (45,829).