The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has recently decided to increase the slot coordination parameters in the early morning and night time frames. In particular, all slots that increase early in the morning are granted to Vietnam Airlines to exploit.
As a result, Vietnam Airlines will increase 20,000 seats, equivalent to 108 flights to serve the peak of the Lunar New Year 2023.
During the Tet period from January 6 to February 5, the total number of seats and flights on the domestic network provided by Vietnam Airlines is nearly 9,200 flights, equivalent to nearly 1.9 million seats.
This is the 4th time the national airline has increased its peak flights during Tet. Previously, Vietnam Airlines increased flights in August and twice in December 2022.
“The increased flights focus on routes between Ho Chi Minh City – Hanoi, Vinh, Thanh Hoa, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Hue. The airline has recorded a rapid increase in bookings in the days near Tet.” Vietnam Airlines said.
| Vietnam Airlines is granted an additional flight slot in the early morning. Photo: Hoang Ha. |
Similarly, Bamboo Airways has also increased the load by 15%, providing 1 million seats throughout the network. Sharing with Zing, a representative of Bamboo Airways said that it has implemented plans to increase the supply load and operating frequency on the main route group to best serve passengers. Typically, the route Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City, the airline plans to operate an average of 15 flights/leg/day (Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City and vice versa), an increase of regarding 35% compared to the normal period.
In December 2022, Vietjet Air said that it had increased the number of flights by 30%, providing over 12,000 flights, bringing the number of seats supplied to more than 2.6 million seats, an increase of more than 600,000 seats compared to the normal operating schedule.
As the airline with the largest increase in flights during the Lunar New Year 2023, the number of flights of Pacific Airlines increased by 59%, equivalent to 1,364 flights, bringing the number of seats supplied to increase by 68% with nearly 290,000 seats. .
Thanks to the CAAV’s expansion of slots, airlines will calculate plans to increase flights to open and sell more air tickets for passengers wishing to travel in the days before and following the Lunar New Year. However, ticket prices in the days leading up to Tet are still very high.
Specifically, the route Ho Chi Minh City – Hanoi, the cheapest round-trip ticket was 6.6 million VND for a mid-night flight of Vietjet Air. Flights of Bamboo Airways, Vietravel Airlines and Vietnam Airlines are currently priced from VND 7 million to VND 13 million. The price for this economy ticket is even more expensive than the business ticket on weekdays.
The Ho Chi Minh City – Da Nang route also recorded a price of 4.5-7 million VND at all airlines. Similarly, the Ho Chi Minh City – Hue route recorded a price of 4.3-6.8 million VND/way.
From Ho Chi Minh City, passengers who want to fly directly to Dong Hoi airport (Quang Binh) do not have many options. Direct flights are mainly of Vietnam Airlines with the price of 8-12 million VND. The closer to the 2023 Lunar New Year, the scarcer the number of flights.
Similarly, the number of direct flights to Vinh (Nghe An) is also not much, the ticket price is at 6-12 million VND of Vietjet Air and Vietnam Airlines.