Following the delisting of FLC Group, the main backer of Bamboo Airways, from Vietnam’s main stock market for violating disclosure requirements in February, all five directors of the airline have now resigned.
The five directors who have resigned are Nguyen Ngoc Trong, who has been the airline’s chairman since August last year, Doan Huu Doan, Le Ba Nguyen, Nguyen Manh Quan, and Le Thai Sam, who has loaned the airline VND 7.7 trillion (USD 327.55 million).
Bamboo Airways’ shareholders will review the resignations at the next company general meeting on 21 June. They will also vote to select new directors for the 2023-2028 period. In addition, the airline will dismiss three members of its board of supervisors and replace them at the same meeting.
FLC has said it will transfer 400 million shares in the airline to Le Thai Sam, giving him a 34 percent stake in Bamboo Airways. The transaction is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.
Bamboo Airways has not yet announced who the new directors will be, but the company has said two former senior executives of Japan Airlines will join as board members and a consultant.
The airline, the third-largest in Vietnam, is facing growing competition from other domestic carriers, such as Vietjet and Vietnam Airlines. It is also seeking to expand its international network, recently announcing plans to launch flights to the US.
The changes at Bamboo Airways come at a time when FLC Group, its biggest shareholder, is in flux after being delisted from the Vietnamese stock exchange and with its founder and then-chairman arrested for stock manipulation back in March. The arrests are part of a wider anti-corruption campaign by Vietnam’s Communist Party, which has led to the scrutiny of other business leaders in the country’s real estate sector.
