During the Fall of Saigon and the impending invasion of North Vietnam into South Vietnam, Air Viet Nam decided to assist and help all South Vietnamese citizens to escape to neighboring countries. Many of their pilots and crew worked long hours ferrying South Vietnamese citizens to Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian countries to escape the invading North Vietnamese army. One Boeing 707 flew to Taipei for the use of former President Nguyen Van Thieu and his wife, and close aides had been flown into exile on a CIA C-118 transport. Thieu was extended the courtesy once in exile of the Boeing jet as he went from first Taiwan, then United Kingdom, before finally flying onto the United States of America where it was returned to Pan Am from which it had been leased.