Choosing the "rooster crows at midnight" time slot, Tet flight ticket prices are still sky-high

Airlines said it was difficult to reduce night flight fares because flights only carry one way passengers, and they asked airports to reduce fees to lower fares. According to airport representatives, the cost of maintaining night flights is higher, so it cannot be reduced.

Choose flight time "midnight rooster crow"

Mr. Pham Ngoc Nhat, a worker at a fruit and vegetable processing and export factory in Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone (District 7 - Ho Chi Minh City) said that for more than 3 years, his wife, children and he himself have not had the opportunity to return to their hometown, partly due to the epidemic, partly because of small children and limited finances.

Therefore, from the beginning of 2023, he planned to save money to have money to bring his wife and children back to their hometown to celebrate Tet with his grandparents in Yen Thanh, Nghe An.

Mr. Nhat said that in early December 2023, he looked up ticket prices on airline websites and ticketing services as well as at ticket offices and found that the prices were too high, around 5.8 - 7.3 million VND/round-trip economy ticket.

“Learning from the experience of many colleagues and fellow countrymen from previous years that the earlier you buy a ticket, the more expensive it is, this year we will look for tickets later. However, for the past two weeks, whenever we have free time, my husband and I have surfed the websites of airlines and ticketing services, but there are almost no tickets left, even for flights between midnight and early morning.

If there are any remaining flights, the cheapest ticket costs nearly 6 million VND, only a reduction of 300,000 - 600,000 VND/ticket. With such sky-high ticket prices, while our budget is limited, if the ticket prices do not decrease in the next 2-3 weeks, we may have to miss our appointment to return home to celebrate Tet with our parents and relatives this year," Mr. Nhat lamented.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, some flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to the provinces have high booking rates, typically the Hanoi - Vinh route is up to 99%; flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Hue/Pleiku/Thanh Hoa/Quy Nhon/Chu Lai/Vinh... are all 90 - 95% full. The flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Van Don is sold out.

For the return flights from local airports to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi after Tet, the routes with high booking rates are Pleiku - Hanoi (110%), Chu Lai - Ho Chi Minh City (106%), Ca Mau - Ho Chi Minh City (97%), Quy Nhon - Ho Chi Minh City (94%), Thanh Hoa - Ho Chi Minh City (93%), Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City (91%), Hue - Ho Chi Minh City (91%),...

However, some routes still have many seats but tickets are still expensive, even at midnight.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Khai, Director of a business specializing in installing fire protection equipment in Go Vap District (Ho Chi Minh City), said that because his parents and relatives live in Ha Nam, his family returns home every year to celebrate Tet.

“Over the past week, I have searched for ticket prices on airline websites and at ticket offices. Although there are still many tickets available, the prices are still sky-high, even though I have searched for night flights. Therefore, I have not booked a ticket yet. We also hope that near Tet, ticket prices may decrease so that people can travel,” said Mr. Khai.

According to the assessment of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, as of January 7, on the main routes such as Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang/Hanoi, Hanoi to Da Nang/Ho Chi Minh City, the occupancy rate during the Tet period from February 3 to February 15, 2024 (December 24 to the 6th day of Tet) is still low, only reaching an average of 37 - 45%.

Although the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route is crowded, Tet flight tickets are also very expensive.

Specifically, during the Tet holiday from February 3 to February 15, 2024 (December 24 to the 6th day of Tet), the price of economy class airfares on the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route ranges from 6.7 - 8.3 million VND/round-trip ticket of Vietnam Airlines; Vietjet Air costs 6.2 - 6.5 million VND/round-trip ticket; Vietravel Airlines costs 6.3 - 7.2 million VND, but Bamboo Airways cannot find tickets.

Thus, compared to about half a month ago, the price of Tet air tickets has decreased by 400,000 - 500,000 VND/round trip ticket, including flights during the day or night. However, according to many customers and experts, this price is still one and a half to nearly double higher than normal days, even though passengers accept to fly at night and early in the morning.

However, a representative of an airline said that the Tet airfares of most airlines did not have too much difference compared to the same period in 2023, such as the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route increased by only 1%, the Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang route increased by 9%, other routes also increased by only 6-10% compared to last year.

No shortage of plane tickets

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam informed that the total number of flights during the peak period of Lunar New Year 2024 (January 24 - February 25, 2024) is expected to reach 33,800, an increase of 14% compared to the same period of Tet 2023 and an increase of 21% compared to the regular flight schedule. Of which, domestic flights are expected to reach 24,200 flights, the rest are international flights.

There are 3 busy and crowded routes, with the most flights being Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City and vice versa with more than 5,000 flights (accounting for 21% of the total number of flights).

Next is the Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang route and vice versa, with more than 2,200 flights (accounting for 9%) and ranked third is the two-way Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh route with 1,600 flights.

In particular, the 3 routes with the highest increase rate during the upcoming Tet holiday compared to the current flight schedule are Can Tho - Vinh and vice versa (increase of 16 flights), Ho Chi Minh City - Dong Hoi and vice versa (increase of 91 flights), Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City (increase of 340 flights).

Some other routes also have an increase rate of over 70% such as Ho Chi Minh City - Quy Nhon (increase of 180 flights), Ho Chi Minh City - Chu Lai (increase of 145 flights), Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Hoa (increase of 261 flights)...

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said that the number of seats provided during Tet is expected to reach 7.2 million, an increase of 16% compared to the same period of Tet in 2023 and 26% compared to regular flights.

Due to the increased number of night flights during the 2024 Lunar New Year to meet the increasing travel demand of the people, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has issued a document requesting relevant units to develop service plans, arrange human resources, and ensure infrastructure, equipment, and vehicles are ready to serve.

This agency pays special attention to serving night flights at airports that have installed signal lights for night operations. At the same time, it closely coordinates with airlines to ensure security, safety and service quality during passenger service, including in case of flight delays and cancellations.