How is flying within Thailand cheaper than in Vietnam?

With the same flight time and date, round-trip domestic flight tickets in Thailand are 1.6-2 times cheaper than in Vietnam.

According to a survey by VnExpress on flight price comparison applications such as Skyscanner and ticket sales applications such as Agoda, eDreams, Trip.com, MyTrip or airlines themselves, domestic flight prices in Thailand are about 1.6 - 2 times cheaper than domestic flights in Vietnam. This price is surveyed on round-trip flights with similar flight times, same flight dates, seat classes, low-cost airlines and routes from the capital to coastal cities or famous tourist destinations.

Comparing the two routes Hanoi - Da Nang and Bangkok - Chiang Mai, flight time 1 hour 20 minutes, departure 17/6 and return 20/6 (both weekdays), many travelers clearly see the difference in price. Round-trip tickets for the Bangkok - Chiang Mai route range from 1.3-1.4 million VND. For the Hanoi - Da Nang route, customers need to pay 2.5-2.7 million VND, weekend flights are 10% more expensive.

Regarding flight times, round trips costing 1.3 million VND in Thailand have good flight times (departing at noon at 11:30, returning in the afternoon at 6:00). In Vietnam, the flight time is 9:30 pm and returning at 11:00 pm.

How is flying within Thailand cheaper than in Vietnam? — **Tourists on Mai Khao beach take photos as a plane lands at Phuket airport, Thailand, in 2023.** Photo: AFP

The total price for a round-trip flight within Thailand is about 1.4 million VND, including 1.1 million VND for the ticket price and nearly 300,000 VND for taxes and fees. However, customers can pay less (about 1.34 million VND) because all domestic flights in Thailand apply discount codes.

In Vietnam, the airfare is 1.2 million VND, with taxes and fees of 1.35 million VND - 4 times higher than taxes and fees in Thailand.

Comparing the Hanoi - Khanh Hoa and Bangkok - Phuket routes, the flight time is 1 hour 50 and 1 hour 35 minutes, the round-trip domestic ticket price in Vietnam is 3.5-4 million VND (ticket over 2.1 million VND; tax and fee 1.4 million VND), the domestic ticket price in Thailand is 1.5-1.6 million VND round-trip (ticket 1.3 million VND and tax and fee 300,000 VND). In Thailand, passengers can also apply a promotional code so they only need to pay more than 1.5 million VND. The flight time is relatively good (departure time 8am, return time 2:30pm).

Nguyen Manh Hung, a 28-year-old office worker living in Hanoi, also shared that in 2023 he successfully "hunted for sales" on a round-trip flight ticket from Hanoi to Phu Quoc for 49,000 VND. However, when calculating taxes and fees, the actual amount paid was 1.5 million VND.

"Very cheap" is the comment of Tran Huy Cong, Head of Sales Development of Vietravel Airlines when talking about domestic ticket prices in Thailand. Mr. Cong himself once booked a round-trip ticket from Bangkok to Chiang Mai for 1.5 million VND.

Mr. Cong said there are many reasons. One of them is that the aviation industry in Thailand is very supportive of airlines. Airlines in Thailand have strong potential, the government focuses on developing tourism and reopening to welcome visitors early after the pandemic, so airlines recover faster than "competitors" in the region.

Thailand currently has 12 airlines, 6 are main airlines, the remaining 6 operate irregularly or on charter flights. Of the 6 main airlines, except for Thai Airways, which is the national airline, the remaining 5 airlines have equal potential and compete "very fiercely" on price. "They are forced to reduce costs and offer low prices to attract customers" and thanks to that, Thai people benefit a lot from ticket prices, according to Mr. Cong.

Vietnam's domestic market has about 3-4 operating companies, of which 2 companies account for 90% of the market share, including a national company and a low-cost company. This leads to a lack of competition like in Thailand, Mr. Cong said.

On the other hand, airlines in Thailand always have abundant passengers, the number of domestic passengers in 2023 reached 64 million, while Vietnam is estimated to reach 40 million. International visitors to Thailand are also 2.5 times higher than those to Vietnam.

The low "head-over-head" rate in Thailand also helps airlines do business smoothly. The Bangkok-Phuket route costs 1.5 million VND, without "head-over-head". With the Hanoi-Da Nang route, the "head-over-head" is quite obvious because most passengers fly from Hanoi to Da Nang, and fewer fly the other way. Therefore, the ticket prices are higher but airlines "can still lose money", Mr. Cong assessed.

Vietravel Airlines once conducted a study on the affordability of Vietnamese people for a domestic flight. The average ticket price that people can "afford" is about 1 million VND one way, or 2 million VND round trip. Meanwhile, for an airline to break even in the Vietnamese market, the ticket price must be from 3.5 to 4 million VND - a high price compared to the average income of the people.

In Thailand, people's income is higher and there are more international tourists, so the cost of flights is high; the break-even to profit level of airlines is stable. All these reasons combined make airlines sell cheap but still make a profit.

Since early 2023, Thailand has proposed solutions to reduce airfare costs, in the context of rising global costs. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand allows more operators to handle ground handling; return space to flight schedules if they cannot operate well; allow airlines to buy more aircraft; promote investment in domestic maintenance centers; and subsidize airlines operating flights to less popular destinations.

In January, Thailand announced that it would open eight new airlines, importing a total of 60 aircraft for the eight airlines. The arrival of eight airlines in one year is considered a "record" in Thailand, bringing high expectations for cheap fares and convenient travel for international and domestic passengers. The number of flights in Thailand is expected to increase by 20% by 2025.

Thailand has identified tourism as a key industry, so the government is looking for ways to support airlines and businesses in the tourism sector. This will help airlines sell cheaper tickets, attracting more visitors to Thailand and making them spend more. According to data from Traveloka, Thailand leads the ticket booking market in Asia during the 3 summer months.

According to vnexpress.net

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