It was a flight of paramount importance to Vietnam, both symbolically and economically. It is no overstatement to describe it as the moment Vietnam, war-torn for two decades and then closed off from the rest of the world by the US embargo, began to open. The following year, in 1986, the government would introduce the “Đổi Mới” programme of economic and political reforms which aimed to steer the country toward a ‘socialist-oriented market economy’.

But the most compelling aspect of that flight is its back story. For it never would have happened without Johnathan Hanh Nguyen. In 1984, based in the US where he had been working as a Boeing sub-contractor Comptroller for over ten years since he had left his native Vietnam, he took his wife and two children to his birthplace of Nha Trang in the south. The trip followed an invitation to visit the country from the United Nations Vietnam representative office in the US. Later Nguyen visited Hanoi at the invitation of the Council of Ministers where he was asked to meet Vietnam’s then-Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng.

It was no random meeting. During that landmark discussion, Vietnam’s leader asked Nguyen for his assistance to open a flight route to the Philippines, seen as a vital economic lifeline for bringing in desperately needed supplies to the poverty-stricken nation. The only other flights at the time were to Moscow and (with authorisation needed on each occasion) Bangkok. Nguyen’s task wasn’t made easier – some might have said it was impossible – by the fact that the Philippines was a close ally of the US at the time.

At first, Nguyen, despite his painstaking efforts, was no more successful in finding the opportunity to open the flight route. Having established his first business in the Philippines, PHL Impex International, (the forerunner of IPPG) he had partnered with Vietnam Airlines and simultaneously contacted the President of Philippine Airlines and offered to open a route to Manila. However, the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos wanted to avoid any conflict with the embargo of their ally, the United States. Marcos even went as far as to order no further such requests to open the flight route.

Showing a persistence that would mark his whole career, Nguyen kept trying. And then on that fateful September day, things suddenly and dramatically changed. He recalls receiving a call from President Marcos’ assistant, whom he had asked for help with his mission. On the evening of 4 September 1985, she called and advised that the President was in a very happy mood – now was the moment, perhaps the only one. President Marcos would see him briefly.

Desperate in his desire to succeed and to open his country to the rest of the world but knowing his persistence could land him in deep trouble, Nguyen arrived at the Presidential Palace, his heart thumping. Armed with the relevant documentation from the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department, he could only hope the President would sign.

Marcos gave it a cursory read. And then signed. When Nguyen went outside the Presidential office, he saw Mr Trần Tiến Vinh, the then first secretary of the Vietnam Embassy. After hearing the good news, the official hugged him, shed tears and said, “Hanh, you are a hero of our country.” Both men wept with the emotion and sheer significance of the moment. In Hanoi, there was euphoria and relief among the waiting members of the Politburo. “It was mission completed,” Nguyen recalls.

Five days later the inaugural return flight from Ho Chi Minh City landed in Manila. Onboard were 31 Vietnamese aviation officials and media representatives. When Nguyen saw the red Vietnamese flag with its yellow star fluttering briskly in the wind as part of the official greeting, he was overcome with emotion.

“Oh my god, this is my country – this is Vietnam. I was shaking in my heart,” he remembers. “I will never forget that flight. Everyone was aware that this was an historic moment for Vietnam. I did it for the country and the people of Vietnam.”

In a December 2021 interview with a local reporter, Nguyen related how he promised the refugees he met that he would work with the US, Vietnamese and Philippines governments to reconnect families through a scheme known as the Orderly Departure Program. Once again, he delivered on his pledge and flights from Vietnam subsequently carried individuals to the Philippines before being reunited with their families in the US and other countries around the world.

Nguyen also successfully sought assistance from American lawyers to find a legal way to bring urgently needed medication from the US into Vietnam. The eventual solution was for the items to be sent by overseas Vietnamese to their relatives through flights from the Philippines by a humanitarian gift programme – the lifeline that Nguyen had opened up.

He also found a way for foreign remittances to be sent to Vietnam, helping build the nation’s foreign currency reserves and thus allowing those citizens with relatives overseas to have money to spend on household items and other necessities. In the process, he was creating wealth and jobs in Vietnam.