The number of flights serving Lunar New Year is approximately 33.8 thousand, an increase of 14% over the same period in 2023 and an increase of 21% compared to the regular flight schedule.
Although airlines have increased flights, especially night flights to serve people returning home for Tet, the number of people booking tickets is high and domestic flights are fully booked, so ticket prices are still very high.
Ticket prices have dropped slightly but are still too 'expensive'
A survey by VTC News on the morning of January 14 on online ticket sales sites of airlines and ticket suppliers showed that round-trip tickets for the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route and vice versa from January 24, 2024 to February 25, 2024 have decreased by nearly 1 million VND compared to December 30, 2023 or earlier, but the price is still very high.
Specifically, Vietnam Airlines tickets range from 5.7 to 6.5 million VND depending on flight time, a decrease of about 800,000 VND compared to the time of purchase before December 30.
Airfare on the morning of January 14 decreased by nearly 1 million VND compared to the end of December 2023.
Meanwhile, on the same flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, round-trip tickets of Bamboo Airways cost between 5.5 and 6.48 million VND, a decrease of more than 700,000 VND compared to the time of booking before December 30.
Round-trip tickets of Vietjet Air range from 5.2 - 5.9 million VND, a decrease of 800 - 1.2 million VND/pair of tickets compared to the time of purchase before December 30.
Not only the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi flight has a price reduction compared to the time of purchase before December 30, but many other flights such as: Ho Chi Minh City - Cat Bi (Hai Phong); Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Hoa; Hanoi - Phu Quoc; Hanoi - Da Lat (Lam Dong); Hanoi - Buon Ma Thuot (Dak Lak); Hanoi - Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa) ... starting from January 24, 2024 - February 25, 2024 have also decreased significantly.
Although the ticket price has decreased slightly, according to many people, the ticket price is still very "expensive", making it difficult to choose a suitable time slot.
Mr. Hong Phong (from Nghe An, living in Ho Chi Minh City) said that his family is considering canceling their plan to return home for Tet because the ticket prices are too high. Mr. Phong said that last year his family of 3 people spent about 22 million VND on a round-trip air ticket, this year if they buy about 9 million VND/pair, that means spending about 27 million VND to return home.
"Even though there are more flights, buying tickets is not easy. I checked the apps and the prices are still very expensive. If we take a late night flight, the price of tickets will not decrease, so we plan not to go home for Tet," said Mr. Phong.
Responding to VTC News on the morning of January 14, Mr. Bui Minh Dang, Deputy Head of the Air Transport Department (Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam) said that currently, airfares are implemented according to a flexible fare mechanism with many price ranges from low to high depending on the market situation (supply - demand), ticket conditions, ticket issuance time, service quality, etc.
Currently, airlines declare domestic air transport service prices with many price levels to meet passenger needs and ensure within the prescribed price range.
The Civil Aviation Authority requires airlines to comply with regulations on price declaration, price posting, and price information disclosure, and to prevent illegal ticket price increases.
“When the number of customers buying is high and demand is low, the price of tickets decreases, which is completely normal. It is possible that in the coming days, ticket prices will continue to decrease when the number of customers booking tickets decreases. The Civil Aviation Authority will continue to monitor and direct airports and airlines to comply with regulations on price declaration, price posting, and price information disclosure, and not allow illegal ticket price increases to occur,” said Mr. Dang.
14% increase in flights
Also according to Mr. Bui Minh Dang, in the period from January 24, 2024 to February 25, 2024, airlines including Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways, and Pacific Airlines have a total number of expected flights of approximately 33.8 thousand flights, an increase of 14% compared to the same period of Tet 2023 and an increase of 21% compared to the current regular flight schedule.
Of which, domestic flights are expected to reach 24.2 thousand, an increase of 2% over the same period in 2023 and an increase of 27% compared to the normal domestic flight schedule currently in operation.
The number of international flights is expected to reach 9.6 thousand, an increase of 60% over the same period and 9% compared to the normal international flight schedule currently in operation.
“The routes with a large proportion expected to operate during the 2024 Lunar New Year are: Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi with more than 5,000 flights, accounting for 21% of the total number of flights; Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang - Ho Chi Minh City with more than 2,200 flights, accounting for 9% of the total number of flights; Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City route ranks third with 1,600 flights, accounting for 6.5% of the total number of flights,” said Mr. Dang.
The Civil Aviation Authority said that although airlines have added thousands of flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to local airports and vice versa on routes with high booking rates, Tet flight tickets are still selling out quickly.
According to Mr. Dang, flights from Ho Chi Minh City to the Central and South Central provinces such as Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Hue, Da Nang, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh have increased dramatically this year. Therefore, early last week, airlines continued to add 472 flights, increasing the estimated number of seats by more than 92,000, mainly flights from Ho Chi Minh City to the Central provinces.
"Airlines have added thousands of flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to local airports and vice versa on routes with high booking rates, but Tet flight tickets still sell out quickly," said Mr. Dang.
Specifically, on the outbound route, from Ho Chi Minh City to local airports, some routes are seeing increasing booking rates and are highest on the days before Lunar New Year (from December 22 to the second day of Tet).
For the Hanoi - Dien Bien route alone, the booking rate was up to 94.4%; Hanoi - Pleiku 88.7%; Hanoi - Vinh 100%; Ho Chi Minh City - Buon Ma Thuot 90.7%; Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang 91.3%; Ho Chi Minh City - Hai Phong 95%; Ho Chi Minh City - Hue nearly 93%, Ho Chi Minh City - Pleiku 91.4%; Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Hoa 99.6%; Ho Chi Minh City - Chu Lai 99.7%; Ho Chi Minh City - Quang Ninh 98.9%; Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh 98.8%.
On the return flight from local airports to Ho Chi Minh City, the booking rates are gradually increasing and are highest on the days after Tet (from the 4th to the 10th of Tet), such as the flights from Da Nang - Ho Chi Minh City 96.9%; Dien Bien - Hanoi 99.5%; Hai Phong - Ho Chi Minh City 99.5%; Hue - Ho Chi Minh City 94.7%; Phu Quoc - Ho Chi Minh City 91.7%; Pleiku - Ho Chi Minh City 95.7%; Quy Nhon - Ho Chi Minh City 94.6%; Chu Lai - Ho Chi Minh City 112.8%; Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City 99.2%.
“We continue to monitor and recommend that airlines balance and add more capacity on flights during the 2024 Lunar New Year period to serve people's travel needs, especially increasing the capacity of night flights at Dong Hoi, Phu Cat, Chu Lai, Tuy Hoa, Tho Xuan, Vinh, Pleiku airports...”, Mr. Dang said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam also requested the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) and local airports to base on the airlines' night flight needs, direct local airports to develop service plans, arrange human resources, ensure infrastructure, equipment, and vehicles, and be ready to serve night flights.
“Vietnamese airlines must proactively provide timely and accurate information about the demand for night flights to airports to coordinate and confirm service capacity to ensure service quality during the process of transporting passengers by air when deploying night flights. At the same time, we will also ask airlines to continue to increase flights if people's travel demand continues to increase during Tet holidays,” Mr. Bui Minh Dang emphasized.
PHAM DUY
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