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Vietjet has never been one for quiet entrances. This airline landed in Australia last year with a cheeky grin, a few million cheap seats, and a promise to stir the pot in Asia-Pacific aviation. The Vietnamese low-cost upstart has cast its gaze across the Pacific — not just to fill aircraft cabins, but to stake a claim on Wall Street.

Yes, Wall Street. The stomping ground of corporate titans, ticker tape, and testosterone-fuelled trading pits. And who’s leading the charge? None other than Dr Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Vietjet’s formidable chairwoman, who popped into the New York Stock Exchange recently and was greeted with the sort of warmth reserved for global players with serious intentions.

A Bell, a Bow and Boeing

Standing beneath the NYSE’s famed columns, Dr Thao wasted no time spelling out her ambitions. “We will soon fly to the U.S., and we are also very excited to explore opportunities to raise capital in New York, the world’s largest stock exchange,” she declared, her words wrapped in the confidence of someone used to setting records.

Not content with merely sketching dreams, Vietjet has planted its flag firmly on American soil. In Seattle, Dr Thao presided over the delivery of Vietjet’s first Boeing 737-8, part of a headline-grabbing 200-aircraft order worth US$32 billion. That’s not just a contract; that’s Vietnam and the United States clinking glasses over the biggest aviation deal in their shared history.

NYSE President Lynn Martin (in black dress) welcomes Vietjet Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao to the exchange

If there were doubts about Vietjet’s seriousness, a multi-billion-dollar handshake with Boeing should clear them up.

Wall Street, Meet Hanoi Hustle

The NYSE, for its part, wasn’t shy about reciprocating. President Lynn Martin hailed the airline’s intentions and reminded the world that her exchange houses 2,400 listed companies with a combined market cap of US$29 trillion. It’s capitalism’s cathedral, and Vietjet clearly wants a pew near the altar.

Vietjet and its sibling HDBank, where Dr Thao also wears the hat of standing vice chairwoman, already sit pretty in Vietnam’s VN30 Index — the blue-chip benchmark that signals who’s in the nation’s stock market. But New York is a different beast entirely. A dual listing here wouldn’t just raise capital, eyebrows, headlines, and Vietnam’s corporate profile to a new altitude.

More Than Just Cheap Seats

To pigeonhole Vietjet as a “low-cost airline” is a little like describing Sydney Opera House as “a roof with sails.” Yes, they flog budget fares, but behind the playful promotions lies a steel-spined corporate strategy. Dr Thao isn’t chasing novelty. She’s chasing permanence, embedding her airline and bank in global finance’s bloodstream.

Vietjet Chair Dr Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao tours the New York Stock Exchange

And in truth, she has a point. Vietnamese enterprises have been itching for a way to break into the world’s biggest markets, and here comes Vietjet with a boarding pass in one hand and a Wall Street listing prospectus in the other.

Ringing the Bell, Making a Point

Of course, no visit to the NYSE is complete without the most symbolic ritual: the ringing of the closing bell. Dr Thao was there hammering the brass, smiling for the cameras, and reminding every suited trader within earshot that Vietjet is not here to muck about.

For the airline, the clang of that bell wasn’t just a ceremony. It was a confident full stop on a day that announced Vietjet’s intent to be more than Asia’s fastest-growing carrier. It wants to be a global powerhouse in the skies and on the trading floor.

Vietnam’s Moment?

If this dual strategy, flights to the U.S. and a listing on the NYSE, comes off, it won’t just be Vietjet popping champagne. It’ll be Vietnam, a nation whose businesses increasingly refuse to play small.

And if history is any guide, when Vietjet says it’s going to do something, it doesn’t sit around waiting for permission. It books the runway, revs the engines, and takes off.

The only question is whether Wall Street and America’s crowded skies are ready for a low-cost Vietnamese disruptor with a taste for billion-dollar deals and a chairwoman who rings bells like victory gongs.