Bus and train tickets are in high demand during Tet holiday.

Airline tickets suddenly "cool down" near Tet

Since the first week of September, airlines have been rushing to open ticket sales for Tet. This year, Vietjet announced that it will provide 2.5 million tickets for the entire flight network during the 2024 Tet holiday; Vietravel Airlines and Bamboo Airways both plan to operate more than 100,000 seats on the entire domestic and international flight network from January 25 to February 24, 2024 (ie December 15, the year of the Cat to January 15, the year of the Dragon); Vietnam Airlines Group (including 3 airlines Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines and VASCO) will provide 3 million seats, equivalent to 15,000 flights on the entire domestic and international flight network.

Aviation has not yet recorded "hot" air tickets in the days leading up to Lunar New Year

However, despite the bustling ticket sales for Tet 6 months in advance, the ticket sales of airlines have not yet recorded a sudden increase. Talking to Thanh Nien, a representative of Vietnam Airlines said that currently, pre-Tet afternoon flights from the South and post-Tet flights from the North and Central regions all have seats available. Although not too "hot", many customers have taken the opportunity to buy tickets early to choose the best flight time as desired. Passengers focus on buying tickets on routes from Ho Chi Minh City to provinces in the North and Central regions such as Hanoi , Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Vinh, Da Nang, Hue, Buon Ma Thuot, Pleiku... The national airline forecasts that the number of passengers traveling during the Lunar New Year 2024 will be equivalent to that of 2023. Therefore, the number of flights on routes will also be open for sale on par with last year, including on routes that record fast seat occupancy rates such as Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City - Hue, Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang...

Bamboo Airways' Tet ticket sales situation has not been "hot". The routes with the highest number of flights such as Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang... of this airline during the peak days of Tet still have quite a lot of empty seats. Meanwhile, a representative of Vietravel Airlines informed that as of November 2, Vietravel Airlines recorded flights with high number of bookings during Tet period as Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City - Quy Nhon. In particular, the flight route Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi has reached an occupancy rate of over 75% for the period before Tet and the time during Tet from February 11 to 13, 2024 (ie the 2nd to the 4th day of Tet).

The airline's flights to Da Nang also have high bookings. However, the leaders of Vietravel Airlines still believe that the Vietnamese economy in the past 10 months has had to make efforts to overcome challenges related to currency, inflation, and the tense war situation taking place in the world, which partly weighed on domestic production and business activities. Some businesses have experienced a decrease in orders, a narrowing consumer market, etc., leading to the need to cut human resources, directly affecting the income and travel needs of workers at the end of the year.

In fact, compared to the initial sale period, air tickets are currently slightly discounted. For example, a survey conducted at the end of September showed that the lowest ticket price of Vietjet Air on the 27th day of the Lunar New Year (February 6, 2024) on the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route was nearly 3.3 million VND/way, now there are many seats priced at 3 million VND. At that time, tickets of Vietravel Airlines on all 3 flights of the day were over 3.5 million VND/way, now they have been reduced to over 3.2 million VND/way.

Slightly higher, most Bamboo Airways flights are at over 3.6 million VND/way, with 2 midday and night flights nearly hitting the ceiling at over 3.64 million VND, a slight decrease compared to 3.67 million VND if booked in September. Nearly 20 daily flights of Vietnam Airlines previously had the same price of over 3.62 million VND/way, now reduced to 3.575 million VND/way. However, there are 5 flights spread out from 8 - 12 hours that are currently sold out of regular tickets, with only business class tickets remaining at over 9.8 million VND/way.

Tickets for the Ho Chi Minh City - Da Lat route do not increase much compared to normal days, ranging from over 1.3 million VND - over 1.4 million VND on days close to Tet with Vietjet; Vietnam Airlines tickets cost over 1.7 - over 1.8 million VND/way. Pacific Airlines on the 26th - 27th of the lunar calendar has only 1 flight, which is also the most expensive - nearly 2 million VND/way.

Notably, this year, because the 27th of Tet falls on a Tuesday, if possible, families can take an extra day off to take advantage of the 2 previous weekend days, returning home from December 23-24 (February 3-4, 2024). Therefore, many Vietjet flights on these 2 days, when they first opened for sale, cost only over 1.4 million VND/way, now they have increased to 2.9 million VND/way. The 9 flights from morning to early afternoon of Vietnam Airlines on the day of Ong Cong Ong Tao were also sold out of economy class tickets, with only business class tickets remaining at over 9.8 million VND/way.

Will demand shift to rail and road?

In addition, the railway industry is trying to implement many programs and policies to attract customers in the context of airfares being "criticized" as being too high. To meet the travel needs of passengers during the 2024 Lunar New Year, the railway industry has organized ticket sales from 8:00 a.m. on October 20. After only 3 days of opening for sale, Vietnam Railways Corporation "sold out" about 41,000 Tet train tickets. Immediately after that, the information that Hanoi and Saigon railway companies have made "huge" profits, many train routes have been upgraded and improved with "luxurious, high-quality, smooth" train compartments has further raised the hope that the railway will "continue to win and advance".

However, General Director of Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company Thai Van Truyen said that the situation of selling Tet tickets is showing signs of slowing down. After more than 10 days of opening ticket sales, the total number of tickets paid is about more than 57,000 tickets. Currently, there are still many train tickets for Tet Giap Thin 2024 on all routes and days.

The railway industry is trying to attract passengers.

Regarding ticket prices, due to fuel prices increasing by about 6-7% compared to the same period and some input costs increasing, peak ticket prices for Tet must also be adjusted up by 1-4% depending on the day, route, train type, etc. The opposite direction decreased by 1-8% compared to the same period last year. In return, the railway industry is applying many preferential policies to support train passengers such as discounts for social policy beneficiaries, trade unions, passengers with customer cards; 3% discount on ticket prices for trains departing from Saigon station on February 8, 2024 (ie December 29 of the lunar calendar) and traveling from 1,000 km or more; 5% discount on return ticket prices for passengers buying round-trip tickets, especially students will receive a 10-20% discount on ticket prices depending on the date of travel. "Partly due to the difficult economic situation, partly because Tet is still far away so people have not arranged yet. However, Saigon Railway Transport has determined that it will still sell out all Tet tickets because the number of train tickets is not much," Mr. Thai Van Truyen added.

Although the Lunar New Year service is usually scheduled later than the railway and air routes, this year the road transport by inter-provincial passenger buses in the southern region has had to prepare earlier due to some disruptions. Localities had to mobilize hundreds of extra buses from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat and Can Tho when Thanh Buoi Company Limited stopped carrying passengers.

Statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport show that in 1 week from September 27 to October 3, this bus company carried out 896 contracts to transport passengers from Ho Chi Minh City to Lam Dong and vice versa. That is, on average, the company has more than 100 trips per day, much higher than other businesses running fixed routes at inter-provincial bus stations. Therefore, although the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport affirmed that they will increase vehicle coordination to meet the needs of people on these routes, especially during peak holidays, Tet, and weekends, many people are still very worried.

This year's Tet tickets are not only competitive between airlines but also between the aviation market and the road and rail markets, because 2023 is a year of economic fluctuations that make workers tighten their spending at the end of the year. Therefore, Vietravel Airlines and other airlines have considered offering appropriate prices for each product on Tet holiday routes. At the same time, Vietravel Airlines will continue to coordinate closely with aviation authorities to request an increase in the frequency of flights with high travel demand.

A leader of Vietravel Airlines

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/phap-phong-ve-tau-xe-tet-185231103202948577.htm