More than one month before the holiday, Van Hieu from the northen province of Quang Ninh, a worker at the Tan Thuan Industrial Zone in HCM City, told zing.vn online newspaper that he struggled to buy a ticket home.

According to him, during the previous years, he had to book flight tickets two months in advance to travel to Hanoiat an affordable cost. However, this year, cheap flight tickets are not available. Meanwhile, ticket prices of flights in the days ahead of the Tet holiday, February 9 to 12 (December 24 to 27 in the Lunar calendar), are rising, even among the budget carriers.

“Flight tickets at the end of the lunar year are around VND3 million (US$130). Budget carriers offer slightly cheaper prices with limited luggage. If I buy extra check-in luggage, the cost is similar to that of other airlines,” he said.  

The recent survey by zing.vn on domestic airlines’ online booking system showed that almost all cheap flight tickets during the Tet holiday are sold out, even for the business class.

Vietnam Airlines, for example, sells tickets from VNĐ3.6 million ($158) for the economy class and VNĐ6.6 million ($290) for the business class on the HCM City – Hanoiroute on February 7 (December 22 in the Lunar calendar). Flights on the following days are fully booked.

On the same route, all promotional tickets of Vietjet Air till February 1 (December 16 in the Lunar calendar) are sold out. The cheapest ticket available is at VND1.4 million ($62) for the economy class.

Meanwhie, for the converse route, from Hanoito HCM City, ticket prices are from VND968,000 ($43)/ticket/way for Vietnam Airlines, VND399,000 ($17.5)/ticket/way for Vietjet Air and VNĐ500,000 ($22)/ticket/way for Jetstar Pacific.

According to the VietnamAviation Administration (VAA), domestic airlines strictly obey the government’s regulation on domestic air fare management. There is no case of exceeding the ceiling price of VND3.683 million ($162)/ticket/way.  

MoT to tighten traffic management

In another development, Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, on Thursday, signed a directive on management and administration strength to stabilise market prices and ensure social order and safety during the Tet holiday.

The Ministry of Transport will collaborate with other government agencies to tighten traffic safety and fully respond to people’s travel demands. Also, the ministry is directed to strictly manage transport fares, improve traffic congestion and accelerate favourable conditions to operate rescue operations, when in need.

VNS