‘Bikini Airlines’ and its billionaire battle a buyout fund

It’s been nearly a year since the billionaire known as Madam Thao had four Airbus A321s grounded on the tarmac in Vietnam. And all this time, the airliners have sat, stranded, in one of the odder international incidents since Vietnam went from communism to a form of capitalism. The story stretches from the People’s Court of Hanoi to the elegant Mayfair area of London, and from there up to spired Oxford, where Madam Thao – formally, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao — planned to have her name etched into college history, along with medieval namesakes like Balliol and Merton. At the center of it all is a dispute between Thao’s young airline, VietJet Aviation JSC, and a London buyout fund that specializes in leasing aircraft, including those four A321s. From its tony Mayfair address, FitzWalter Capital Ltd., co-founded by former Macquarie Group Ltd. mastermind Ben Brazil and backed by UK and Australian pension funds, says VietJet has fallen behind on rent for the four planes and breached their contract. It sued the budget airline — popularly known as “Bikini Airlines” for previous promotional stunts involving models in two-piece swimsuits posing as cabin crew – and demanded payment and return of the jets. It’s seeking $191m. VietJet’s response: Bring it on. In its defense filed with the High Court of Justice in London, the 12-year-old airline, font of Thao’s self-made fortune, has acknowledged it missed some bills after Covid-19 upended air travel. But it added that the original lessors FitzWalter took over the planes from had at some point agreed to soften the terms of its lease. Besides, the London investment firm hasn’t suffered any real economic damage. The squabble has reached the highest court in Vietnam and become a hot topic in aviation industry circles. <br/>