The Ministry of Transport has just sent a document to the authorities and Vietnamese airlines to strengthen state management, strictly control airfares, and propose solutions to reduce service prices during the upcoming summer peak season.
Urgently research solutions to reduce ticket prices
This request was made in the context of rising airfares, especially during holidays and peak tourist seasons. This affects people's travel needs, especially for those with low incomes.
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| Economists say more airlines need to enter the market to increase competition - Photo: aivivu.com |
The Ministry of Transport assigns the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to promote the role and responsibility of the State management agency in the aviation sector; strengthen inspection of compliance with the law on ticket sales, declaration and listing of ticket prices by airlines; promptly detect and strictly handle violations of price laws. If necessary, propose specialized price inspection agencies to conduct inspections in accordance with the law.
The Civil Aviation Authority also needs to take the lead in working with Vietnamese airlines to study and propose solutions to increase the supply capacity for domestic routes in the short and long term; create maximum conditions for airlines to add more aircraft to meet people's travel needs during the peak summer period and prepare for the peak period at the end of the year; review and flexibly manage take-off and landing times (slots) at airports to improve air transport supply capacity.
At the same time, the Ministry of Transport assigned the Civil Aviation Authority to urgently study and propose solutions and policies to reduce domestic air passenger transport service prices based on the principle of harmonizing interests between the State, businesses and passengers.
In addition, the Ministry of Transport also requires Vietnamese airlines to strictly implement regulations on domestic air passenger transport service prices, declare prices, post prices, and publicly disclose information on prices and ticket sales programs according to regulations. Information on the structure of fees in ticket prices must be complete, clear, and not confusing to passengers.
The airline implements flexible fare ranges, continues to have preferential policies on domestic flights to suit the needs of people and major tourism programs and festivals; proactively implements plans to add more aircraft to increase capacity during peak periods, arranges night flights to meet passenger travel needs; proactively coordinates with tourism agencies and units and localities to promote, advertise, and introduce tourism programs, destinations and products... to promote tourism and reduce ticket prices.
What do economists say?
Responding to the Industry and Trade newspaper about issues related to airfares, Dr. Dinh Trong Thinh - an economic expert from the Academy of Finance said that the Ministry of Transport has agreed with the Ministry of Finance on the ceiling price of airlines and when the ceiling price is regulated, businesses are allowed to set ticket prices for flight routes as long as they are lower than the regulated ceiling price.
The Ministry of Transport is also the unit that regularly inspects and monitors ticket prices of these routes to ensure consumer rights and ensure the strictness of state management. This includes forcing airlines to comply with ticket prices according to regulations.
Mr. Thinh also said that currently in our country, there are few airlines, and even fewer aircraft. Recently, when a series of aircraft were recalled by the manufacturer for inspection and repair of engine errors, the number of aircraft is even smaller. Along with that, there are not many new leased aircraft, causing the number of aircraft to decrease significantly.
When the routes and departures have been scheduled, airlines still have to organize two-way flights with return flights without passengers, thereby increasing ticket costs. This is one of the main reasons for the increase in ticket prices, however, this ticket price is still not higher than the prescribed ceiling price. Mr. Thinh said that although the request for inspection of ticket price issuance with airlines is good, it is not necessary at the present time.
" When the Ministry of Transport inspects airline companies, there is certainly no company that dares to exceed the price ceiling ," Mr. Thinh said.
Mr. Thinh also agrees with the view that the more airlines there are in a market, the higher the competition, and from there, airlines must find ways to lower ticket prices while still meeting consumer demand. However, in Vietnam, adding new airlines to increase market competition requires complicated procedures and also depends on the growth of passenger numbers to be high enough.
In developed countries, there are many airlines because of the high demand for travel, the large number of passengers, the cost will be reduced. In addition, countries also have many low-cost airlines, cutting down on accompanying services, making ticket prices more suitable and diverse.
In addition to increasing market competitiveness, taxes and fees charged on each airline ticket can also be considered for reduction.
" Fees related to landing and take-off, environmental protection, fuel, security, etc. are difficult to reduce because of international practice. But there are fees such as airport entrance fees, some countries have them, some countries don't. With such fees, we can review to see if they can be reduced or not, " Dr. Dinh Trong Thinh proposed a solution.
Source: https://congthuong.vn/lam-sao-ha-nhiet-gia-ve-may-bay-323473.html
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