Looking for flight tickets for April 30th holiday

Looking at the ticket price, I no longer want to travel.

Phu Quoc is nervous again before the peak tourist season because of sky-high airfares.

"As soon as the airfare was announced, several families were clamoring to 'change the deal'. Seeing the advertisements for Cau Hon and Thi Tran Hoang Hon, which were as beautiful as paintings, I was really interested, but the tickets were too 'expensive'. The cheapest was over 5.6 million VND/round trip ticket to Phu Quoc. A family of 4 spent over 22 million VND on airfare, let alone enough money to eat and stay comfortably" - Ms. Hai Phuong (living in Hanoi) exclaimed, although before that, her group had excitedly planned a vacation for the upcoming April 30 - May 1 holidays.

Last year, this close-knit family also planned to go to Nha Trang but in the end had to change direction to drive themselves to Ba Vi for the holiday because the airfare was too high. This year, the "dream" of Phu Quoc did not come true, Ms. Phuong went to check the tickets to Nha Trang and said: "It's not much better. If you go to Nha Trang at dawn, including the cheapest return trip, it will be more than 5.2 million VND. I remember in 2022, my family bought tickets to Nha Trang for only more than 1.4 million VND/way, now it's twice as expensive. It's been years since we've been to the beaches in the South and Central regions, just because the airfare is too high."

Similarly, Ms. Ha Trang's family (living in District 11, Ho Chi Minh City) has just changed their holiday schedule to visit their parents in Da Nang because the airfare is as high as the Tet holiday ticket. If she requests an additional day off on Monday (April 29), Ms. Trang will have a total of 5 days off from February 30 to May 1.

"My parents are getting old now, so I take advantage of every holiday to go back to my hometown to visit them. Knowing that tickets are expensive this year, I planned to buy them early, but when I searched Vietnam Airlines, all the tickets were over 2.5 million VND/way. This price is as high as the peak ticket price during the Lunar New Year when I went back to my hometown. We recalculated and waited until after the holiday to go back," said Ms. Trang.

According to a survey on some online ticketing sites, most air tickets to famous domestic tourist destinations have started to skyrocket, lasting from the peak of the April 30 - May 1 holiday to the peak of the summer (June - August). Among them, the resort paradise of Phu Quoc is the most "disadvantaged" because not only are airfares too high but the number of flights is also very limited.

For example, from Hanoi to Phu Quoc on April 27, there were only 6 flights, including 2 flights by Vietnam Airlines with ticket prices of nearly 4.5 million VND/way, not business class but only flexible economy class. The lowest ticket of Vietjet was also nearly 2.8 million VND/way. The same was true for the return flight on May 1. In other words, the pair of tickets from Hanoi to Phu Quoc during the April 30 - May 1 holiday season ranged from nearly 6 million to nearly 10 million VND.

Compared to the peak ticket prices for the Lunar New Year, airfares for the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route during the upcoming holiday have "cooled down" somewhat, but are still quite high: If flying on Saturday (April 27) and returning on May 1, passengers will have to pay at least VND4.3 million/round-trip ticket of Vietravel Airlines. Bamboo Airways round-trip tickets range from VND5.7 - 7.5 million. Most of Vietnam Airlines' flights cost more than VND5.3 million/round-trip. Meanwhile, some Vietjet flights have peak ticket prices of up to nearly VND3.8 million/way, equivalent to about VND7.6 million/round-trip.

High prices are not due to demand but because the company has not increased capacity.

Explaining the sky-high airfares, an airline representative said that the current high airfares are not necessarily due to a sudden increase in travel demand, but mostly because airlines have not increased their supply of tickets during peak season. At this time, some families have planned their holidays and bought tickets, but there are few flights, the low-priced fares have been sold out, so only high-priced tickets remain.

In addition, the aviation market this year has seen many fluctuations. The ceiling price for airfares was raised at the same time that A321 aircraft using Pratt & Whitney engines had to stop operating for maintenance, causing the supply to the market to decrease.

However, flights departing from Ho Chi Minh City are larger and carry more passengers, so holiday ticket prices are not "hot".

High airfare prices may dampen the heat of the April 30 - May 1 holiday season and the upcoming summer peak

To limit the impact on the tourism market and create conditions for people to travel more during the holidays, airlines also launch many attractive promotional programs during this period.

Specifically, Vietnam Airlines has just launched a promotional airfare program for domestic flights starting from only 69,000 VND (excluding taxes and fees), and for international round-trip flights starting from 49 USD (excluding taxes and fees). Bamboo Airways has also updated ticket prices for many international flights starting from 5 USD/way (excluding taxes and fees), and many domestic flights starting from only 26,000 VND (excluding taxes and fees).

Vietjet Air also reopened many international flights and offered ticket prices starting from only VND959,000/flight (excluding taxes and fees), while domestic flights started from VND49,000/flight.

For Vietravel Airlines, the airline also offers passengers many options when traveling during the upcoming April 30 holiday, many routes cost only from 58,000 VND (excluding taxes and fees). At the same time, the frequency of some flights is increased such as: Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang (3 round trips/day), Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi (5 round trips/day), Hanoi - Da Nang (2 round trips/day).

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