LOTHA Airlines an important addition to Hamy cashew group's ecosystem

The establishment of LOTHA Airlines in August 2025 has drawn attention from investors and industry observers, as the newly-formed aviation services company appears to have close links to Hamy, a long-standing Vietnamese cashew producer.

Vietnam’s aviation sector has seen a wave of new entrants in recent years, and LOTHA Airlines is among the latest names to emerge.

The company was incorporated as LOTHA Aviation Joint Stock Company with charter capital of just VND10 billion ($380,600), significantly smaller than other aviation newcomers such as Masterise Aviation Infrastructure (VND29.3 trillion or $1.12 billion), Phu Quoc Sun Aviation (VND1 trillion) or Crystal Bay Airlines (VND300 billion).

Corporate filings show that Nguyen Ngoc Son, born in 1993, holds 96% of LOTHA Airlines’s shares and serves as its legal representative, chairman and CEO. The remaining shares are held by minority shareholders with marginal stakes.

Son also holds equity stakes in several other companies, including Sobi Food and Beverage Co (51%), So Cas Holdings (50%), Sobi Consumer Goods (30%), FPA Dining (66%), and SMP Healthcare (99%), according to business registration data.

Data compiled by The Investor indicate that Son has close personal and business ties to Nguyen Thi My, born in 1974, a businesswoman closely associated with the Hamy cashew brand. The link is most evident at Sobi Food and Beverage Co, formerly known as Hamy Japan Co.

My previously served as director and legal representative of the company, while Hamy Co at one point held a 51% stake. In May 2019, My transferred senior management roles to Son, who also took over the 51% stake from Hamy, filings show. Public records also indicate that Son and My share the same registered permanent address.

Founded in 1995 as an agricultural trading operation, Hamy formally became Hamy Corporation in 2010 after a restructuring. Over nearly three decades, the group has built a diversified business ecosystem, with cashew-based OEM (original equipment manufacturer) manufacturing as one of its core pillars.

Hamy says it processes and exports more than 3,000 tons of finished cashew products annually, including value-added products, generating profits of tens of billions of dong each year (VND10 billion = $380,600).

The company has also invested in deeper processing to serve both domestic and export markets, supported by locally sourced raw materials that help reduce logistics costs.

Beyond food processing, Hamy owns the Hamy Green Industrial Park in Binh Phuoc province, now part of Dong Nai province, covering 10 hectares with a total investment exceeding VND100 billion.

Against this backdrop, industry observers say the creation of LOTHA Airlines could represent an important addition to Hamy’s broader ecosystem.

As an agricultural exporter, particularly in cashew products, Hamy has significant demand for international logistics, warehousing and fast, reliable transport to distant markets such as Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

LOTHA Airlines’s registered business lines focus on providing direct support services for air transport, and the company has stated that it is targeting cargo routes to North African markets including Egypt, Algeria, Libya and Morocco - regions with rising demand for imported agricultural and processed food products from Vietnam.

The overlap in target markets suggests LOTHA Airlines could serve as a logistics extension of Hamy’s export operations, particularly for high-value goods requiring short delivery times.

LOTHA Airlines is headquartered in Dong Nai province and has positioned its development strategy around southern Vietnam’s economic corridor, with a focus on the logistics ecosystem expected to form around Long Thanh International Airport, which is slated to become a major national air cargo hub.

If it expands into air cargo support and logistics services, LOTHA Airlines could help Hamy move toward a closed-loop supply chain, spanning procurement, processing, storage and international air transport, analysts say.

Such a move would be consistent with Hamy’s broader shift toward a multi-sector ecosystem, combining agriculture, food processing, consumer goods, warehousing, and green industrial real estate.