VietJet’s CEO became Southeast Asia’s first self-made female billionaire. The airline is a discount carrier flying narrowbody aircraft mostly domestically although with several routes now into Asia.

Five years ago the airline was fined 20 million Dong over unapproved inflight entertainment. It wasn’t a problem with the installation of a seatback video system. Instead, 5 bikini-clad candidates in a local beauty contest performed a dance onboard the airline’s inaugural flight to Nha Trang.

Since the 3-minute show had not been approved in advance, it was deemed a violation of aviation and security regulations. And the airline was fine — the equivalent of $959.

Since then they’ve branded themselves the bikini airline. And the airline’s CEO sees the campaigns and onboard stunts as empowering. Vietnam has a very conservative culture, and the public bikini stunts rebel against traditional notions of female dress in that society.

Although when they start service to some Islamic destinations they have to promise those governments that their flight attendants will be fully clothed.

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VietJet will firm an order for 50 A321neos on Friday, aircraft with a list price of $6.5 billion but assume they aren’t paying more than about half that.

Until they ordered 100 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft during US President Obama’s visit to Vietnam in 2016, VietJet had been exclusively Airbus customers, currently operating 56 Airbus narrowbodies.