According to air ticketing agents, there are tickets available for the upcoming Tet holidays. However, airfares are rising sharply on almost every route.
(Illustrative photo: SGGP)
Flights from HCMC to Hanoi and provinces in the central region still see a large number of seats that are priced at ceiling levels.
Accordingly, a return economic-class ticket is priced around VND7 million for HCMC-Hanoi flights departing on February 7, 2024 (on the 28th day of the last lunar month) and leaving on February 15, 2024 (on the 6th day of the first month of the lunar calendar).
Passengers want to choose cheap red-eye flights but there is only a limited number of air tickets on sale. Only a few night flights departing from HCMC at 11:50 pm and arriving in Hanoi at 1:55 am on February 7, 2024, have the lowest price of up to VND6.4 million (US$264).
Economy tickets for some flights from HCMC to Vinh, Da Nang, and Nha Trang, and from Hanoi to Phu Quoc, Da Nang and Nha Trang have been also sold out in spite of the high prices.
Airlines plan to provide 5.5 million domestic air tickets during the Tet holiday, up 36.8 percent compared to the same period last year. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAV) has asked carriers to add more night flights to respond to the spike in travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday season.
However, airlines have cautiously increased flights due to rising input costs and revenue deficit. Some have even reduced their aircraft because of soaring rental prices. Of these, Bamboo Airways whittled the number of 30 aircraft down to 11, pacific Airlines removed 11 aircraft from its fleet to six, Vietravel Airlines cut its fleet from six to three, Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air have maintained their groups of planes of nearly 100 each.
The CAV has required carriers to provide passenger booking data and increase more night flights when the occupancy rate of seats reaches 70 percent.
By Minh Duy – Translated by Kim Khanh
