Despite adding thousands of flights, airfares for many Tet holiday routes remain sky-high.

Speaking to VTC News, Mr. Dinh Viet Son, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Civil Aviation Authority, said that to date, 15 leased aircraft with crews (wet lease) belonging to airlines have been put into operation.

Vietjet Air has just received two more aircraft, bringing its total fleet size to six aircraft to serve the peak Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday season (four of which were previously leased). Last week, the airline also added nearly 750 flights, equivalent to 154,800 seats, to meet demand during Tet.

Vietnam Airlines also "wet-leased" four Airbus A320 aircraft, adding nearly 1,000 more flights.

Vietnam Airlines is adding four aircraft to meet the travel demand of people during the Tet holiday.

To date, Vietnam Airlines Group will provide a total of 2.86 million seats during the peak Tet holiday season. Notably, the number of early morning and night flights has increased significantly, with more than 1,300 flights.

In early January, Bamboo Airways also "wet-leased" two aircraft to serve the sudden surge in travel demand during the Tet holiday.

Despite the high booking rates, many flights still had tickets available as of February 4th.

According to Mr. Dinh Viet Son, flights from Ho Chi Minh City to other localities have very high booking rates, spread evenly across the days from February 2nd to February 9th.

Specifically, the routes are as follows: Ho Chi Minh City - Hai Phong (85-98%), Ho Chi Minh City - Hue (86-99%), Ho Chi Minh City - Pleiku (88-99%), Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Hoa (85-96%), Ho Chi Minh City - Chu Lai (92-98%), Ho Chi Minh City - Quang Binh (89-103%), Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh (90-98%).

Some routes still have available seats, such as the Ho Chi Minh City - Buon Ma Thuot route, with booking rates for February 3-5 at 76-83%; Ho Chi Minh City - Tuy Hoa on February 2 (70%), February 8 (85%), and February 9 (72%), passengers can still purchase tickets.

Similarly, for the Ho Chi Minh City - Quy Nhon route, the booking rate for February 3rd and 9th is currently at 76-78%. For the Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh route on February 9th, the new booking rate is at 67%.

"However, having seats available on February 9th, which is the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, is too late for many people. Therefore, the lower demand for tickets is understandable. For the days from February 4th to 8th, tickets for popular routes like from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Binh, Pleiku, etc., are still sold out," Mr. Son said.

Notably, even on routes with available seats, economy class airfares remain very expensive, reaching over 3.52-4.2 million VND per flight (including taxes and fees), such as flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh, Thanh Hoa, or Hai Phong… with Vietjet Air and Vietnam Airlines; flights to Chu Lai cost 2.44-3.5 million VND with Vietravel Airlines and Vietjet; and flights to Pleiku cost 1.9 million VND per ticket (Vietjet)...

Vietnam Airlines is increasing its flights by more than 1,300 to meet the travel needs of people during the Tet holiday.

According to explanations from the Civil Aviation Authority and airlines, one of the reasons for the high ticket prices during Tet is that airlines are having to compensate for round-trip costs according to market regulations.

" If Tet holiday airfares don't increase to compensate for empty return flights, airlines will incur losses, because all flights bear the same costs including parking, fuel, crew, jet bridges, etc. Even with the price increase, it will still be within the regulations on price ceilings and floors," said Mr. Dang Anh Tuan, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Airlines.

Meanwhile, in response to VTC News, Mr. Dinh Viet Thang, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority, said that during the peak Tet holiday season, all airline flights have to accept having one end with many passengers and the other end empty or with very few passengers.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, while regular flights or summer flights are fully booked in both directions, Tet holiday flights are mostly unbalanced, with one direction fully booked and the other empty or with very low passenger occupancy rates, only reaching 20-25% of the seats.

For example, before Tet (Lunar New Year), the occupancy rate of flights from Hanoi and other northern airports to Ho Chi Minh City was quite low. On February 2nd, the Thanh Hoa - Ho Chi Minh City flight had an occupancy rate of 7.91%, Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City: 11.98%; on February 3rd, the Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City route had an occupancy rate of 17.02%, and Binh Dinh - Ho Chi Minh City had an occupancy rate of 16.62%...

Airlines have increased the number of flights, but ticket prices remain exorbitantly high.

Meanwhile, flights from Ho Chi Minh City to northern airports after Tet were also quite sluggish.

Specifically, on February 4th, the percentage of passengers booking tickets for the Ho Chi Minh City - Pleiku route was 16.61%, Ho Chi Minh City - Tuy Hoa: 16.87%; on February 8th, the Ho Chi Minh City - Buon Ma Thuot route: 11.19%...

Flights from Hanoi and other localities to Ho Chi Minh City before Tet (Lunar New Year) were very low, averaging only 20-30% with many empty (ferry) flights. Similarly, for routes from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi or provinces in Central Vietnam, the Central Highlands, and the North, the average occupancy rate was only 30%. Meanwhile, airlines still have to pay for fuel, taxes, fees, and fleet costs, making airfares during Tet expensive.

"Every year, before Tet (Lunar New Year), flights from the South to the Central and Northern regions are fully booked, while the return flights are mostly empty. After Tet, flights from the North and Central regions to the South are also fully booked, while the return flights are less crowded. Even with few or no passengers, planes still have to accept flying according to the available slots."

"In principle, when calculating ticket prices, airlines must include both input and output costs to cover expenses. If they only calculate one-way costs, the airlines won't have the funds to cover their expenses," Mr. Thang said.

According to Mr. Thang, during this period, all 15 leased aircraft with crews from Vietnamese airlines were put into operation.

"The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam is continuing to direct and coordinate with airlines and airports to increase capacity, with an expected 2-3 flights per day on some routes from Ho Chi Minh City to localities with high demand," Mr. Thang emphasized.

PHAM DUY

Source