According to a survey by PV “Tiền Phong”, the price of air tickets for return trips from various locations back to Ho Chi Minh City after Tet is still very high. On average, flights from Hanoi, Vinh (Nghe An), Hai Phong…. have ticket prices ranging from 3.5 – 7 million VND per way. In some cases, if passengers have connecting flights, they have to spend over tens of million VND per way.
Economy class tickets today (26/2) are mostly sold out, only business class tickets are available at prices ranging from 7-10 million VND per way. Photo: KNB
From observations, it can be seen that today (26/2), economy class tickets for the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City and Vinh – Ho Chi Minh City routes are all sold out and only business class tickets are left with prices ranging from over 5 – 10 million VND per way depending on the airline and flight time. There are still some flights available for the Thanh Hoa – Ho Chi Minh City route, but there are no more cheap tickets. One-way tickets from Vietjet Air and Vietnam Airlines are priced at 3.2 – 3.5 million VND.
This price level has been maintained for many days after Tet and only started to decrease after the 20th day of the Lunar New Year (which falls on March 5), when the new ticket price limit regulation will be applied (from March 1).
Ms. Le Thi Ngoc (36 years old, Nghe An) shared that in previous years when she went home for Tet, she would usually choose to buy tickets after the 15th day of the Lunar New Year to get cheaper prices. However, this year when she was booking tickets, she was very surprised because throughout the whole month, ticket prices were still very high. “I planned to return to Ho Chi Minh City on the 17th day of the Lunar New Year but when I looked at the air ticket prices, I was very surprised. Vietnam Airlines tickets for the Vinh – Ho Chi Minh City route are all sold out, only business class tickets are left with prices close to 6 million VND per way. Meanwhile, Vietjet’s economy class tickets without checked baggage are priced at 3.6 million VND, and with checked baggage, the price is 4.3 million VND,” Ms. Ngoc shared.
Why are ticket prices “soaring”?
According to statistics from the Ministry of Transport, during this year’s Tet, air transportation carried nearly 1.3 million passengers, an increase of 9.6% compared to the same period last year. Of note, the number of international visitors to Vietnam during Tet reached over 633,000, an increase of nearly 49%. Meanwhile, domestic passengers reached over 628,000, a decrease of over 13%.
Although the number of domestic passengers decreased, compared to last year, air ticket prices during this Tet are still considered to be higher. For example, the busiest route Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City, round-trip air ticket prices during this Tet of Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways are around 7 million VND for most time slots. On the same route, Vietjet sells tickets for 6.37 million VND, an increase of 1 to 3 million VND. Notably, this year, cheap tickets are almost “disappeared”, only high-priced tickets are available.
The high ticket prices during the peak travel period are not surprising. However, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (Ministry of Transport) has affirmed that airlines have continuously added and increased flights during Tet. The total number of flights during the peak Lunar New Year period (January 24 – February 25) is expected to reach 33,800 flights, an increase of 14% compared to the same period of Tet in 2023 and an increase of 21% compared to the regular flight schedule. It is estimated that the supply of seats during Tet will reach 7.2 million, an increase of 16% compared to the same period of Tet in 2023 and an increase of 26% compared to the regular flight schedule. Therefore, in addition to the high demand for traveling, many passengers believe that the airlines are also “raising prices”.
According to a representative of an airline, this year, due to intense competition, some airlines have reduced the number of aircraft from 30 to 11, and some even reduced to only 3 aircraft… The leasing of aircraft for Tet has also faced many difficulties.
“This year, only a few airlines have the capacity to increase flights, small airlines are facing challenges in terms of leasing aircraft and maintaining operations, so it will be difficult to increase the frequency of flights. Some airlines with limited resources have almost depleted their capacity, so promotions and discounts for domestic flights during Tet are becoming less and less,” the representative said.
The fact that air ticket prices are still high is also due to some airlines shrinking their fleet, causing the total number of aircraft operated by domestic airlines to be only 204. This goes against the plan of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to increase the number of aircraft to 250 by the end of this year.
In response to the feedback on the high ticket prices, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam stated that it has requested Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Bamboo Airways, Pacific Airlines, and Vietravel Airlines to report on their air ticket sales operations during Tet Nguyen Dan 2024. Along with that, the authority is monitoring the activities of airlines with ticket agents and taking measures to handle any issues. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has requested airlines to submit their reports no later than February 26. However, many customers believe that the management agency’s request is late, as the Tet flight season has already ended.
Speaking to PV Tien Phong, a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said that after the airlines submit their reports on air ticket sales during Tet, the authority will review and continue to closely monitor the situation of air ticket prices during the post-Tet peak period.
Meanwhile, airlines affirm that ticket prices during Tet this year are still flexibly priced according to the market situation, with a wide range of prices and compliance with the domestic price limit regulations.
Air ticket prices will reach the limit from March 1
From March 1, the new domestic economy class air ticket price limits will be applied in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Transport. Specifically, on 4 routes, prices will increase from 2.27% to 6.67%, with an average increase of 3.75%. Specifically, for routes with a distance of less than 500km, the price limit remains at 1.6 – 1.7 million VND per one-way ticket.
The remaining routes will have price increases ranging from 50,000 – 250,000 VND per one-way ticket, depending on the distance of each route. For example, routes from 500 km to less than 850 km have a price limit of 2.25 million VND per one-way ticket. Routes from 1,000 km to less than 1,280 km have a price limit of 3.4 million VND per one-way ticket. Routes with a distance of 1,280 km or more have a price limit of 4 million VND per one-way ticket.
