According to VTC News, many flights from provinces and cities in the North and Central regions such as Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Vinh, Quang Binh, Gia Lai… to Ho Chi Minh City are fully booked and no longer available for booking until February 19th (the 10th day of Tet).
The “golden” flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on February 16th – 18th, which is from the 7th to the 9th day of Tet, still has seats available but only for business class with a sky-high price of 8,429,000 VND per way (excluding taxes and fees). Including taxes and fees, the total price per ticket is 9,802,000 VND.
On February 19th (the 10th day of Tet), Vietjet Air also has 7 flights from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, but they only have business class seats available with a price of 8,335,000 VND per way.
In the days from February 16th to 18th, during the 7th to 9th days of Tet, many flights from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City only have business class seats available. (Screenshot picture).
For other flights from February 16th to 19th (the 7th to the 10th days of Tet) such as Hai Phong – Ho Chi Minh City; Vinh, Thanh Hoa – Ho Chi Minh City; Hue, Da Nang – Ho Chi Minh City… all tickets have been sold out.
Therefore, except for passengers who have booked their flights early, passengers who want to travel to Ho Chi Minh City during these days have to choose alternative transportation options or accept buying expensive tickets.
Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen (Tan Son Ward, Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City) said that for the past two days, he has tried all possible ways to book tickets but without success. When he finally found some tickets, the prices were extremely high, nearly 10 million VND per ticket. If he books 4 round-trip tickets for his whole family, it would cost him up to 40 million VND, while his budget is only around 20 million VND.
Unable to book cheap tickets, Mr. Quyen decided to rent a car for 16 million VND. Although it is slower and takes more time, this option helps him save over 60% compared to buying flight tickets.
After February 19th, which is after the 10th day of Tet, flights from the Northern and Central regions to Ho Chi Minh City will have available seats, but the prices will still be high. Specifically, the cheapest price for the Hai Phong – Ho Chi Minh City route is around 3.6 million VND. The prices for the Vinh, Thanh Hoa, Hue – Ho Chi Minh City routes are ranging from 3.5 to 4.8 million VND.
One-way ticket prices for the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City route are about 3 million VND.
According to many travel agencies’ information, domestic flight prices from the North to the South will drop significantly after the peak period of Tet, starting from the last week of February.
Many flights from the North to Ho Chi Minh City are fully booked. (Screenshot picture).
In response to VTC News, a representative from an airline said that the airline has made efforts to meet the increasing demand for travel during the peak period of the Lunar New Year by adding more flights and leasing more aircraft. However, due to the surge in travel demand from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces in the North and Central regions to Ho Chi Minh City after Tet, the demand has exceeded the airline’s capacity.
After the Lunar New Year holiday, all airports have been receiving a large number of passengers. At Tan Son Nhat Airport, nearly 148,000 people were served on 836 flights on the 5th day of Tet. This is the highest number during the 5 days of the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Horse and exceeds the airport’s forecast.
On the previous day (the 4th day of Tet), there were 843 flights with over 136,000 passengers at this airport. Previously, in the plan to serve the peak period of Tet (from January 26th to February 24th), Tan Son Nhat Airport forecasted to have about 860 – 900 daily flights to and from the airport with an average of 135,000-140,000 passengers.
Meanwhile, in an interview with VTC News on the afternoon of February 15th, Mr. Tran Hoai Phuong, Director of the Northern Airports Authority, said that at Noi Bai Airport, the busiest day since Tet is February 14th (the 5th day of Tet), with 505 arrivals and departures with more than 93,000 passengers. On the 6th day of Tet, there are about 500 arrivals and departures and an estimated number of passengers of about 90,000.
“In the next 3 days from February 16th to 19th, there will be about 500 – 505 flights and the number of passengers will be about 93,000,” Mr. Phuong said.
