Vietnamese airlines to serve high summer demand

Many Vietnamese airlines have proposed that the ceiling prices of domestic air tickets be further increased or removed as they have suffered heavy losses due to wildly soaring fuel costs. Even though air tickets have been rising, even higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, carriers argued that they have to make up for relentlessly rising fuel expenses. Round-trip airfares of economy class for the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City route are fluctuating around VND3-5 million (US$129-214) per ticket and those for business class are VND8-17 million ($343-729), an increase of 20-50 percent compared to periods with passenger shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Airfares to famous tourist destinations, such as Da Nang and Phu Quoc, have even changed hourly, and customers can hardly find cheap tickets even though for early morning or late-night flights. Many customers commented that many airlines might have taken unfair advantage of higher fuel prices, triggered by rising world oil … [Read more...] about Vietnamese airlines want domestic airfare caps raised, even removed, amid fuel cost hikes

HCMC resident Hanh was trying to book round-trip tickets to Phu Quoc a month earlier, but the travel agent quoted new prices every time she called. She said airfares for three people and one child rise from VND11 million ($473) to VND12 million in 10 minutes, and to VND13 million a few hours later. Hoa of Da Nang City said the cost of a round-trip to HCMC tripled to VND2.3 trillion within two months. She said that the longer she waited for the price to drop, it did the opposite. The most expensive domestic route, Hanoi-Phu Quoc, has seen round-trip ticket prices rise 20-30 percent to VND5-7.5 million from last month. Airfares from Hanoi and HCMC to Da Nang, Nha Trang and Quy Nhon have risen by over 25 percent in the last several months. International airfares have also risen by 25-30 percent, with the HCMC-South Korea and HCMC-San Francisco route recording prices of VND10-13 million and VND41-45 million, respectively. Vietnam Airlines head of communications Dang Anh Tuan … [Read more...] about Hourly rise in airfares as summer demand surges

Vietnamese airlines are suffering losses amounting to hundreds of billions of VND each month due to a surge in fuel prices, according to director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Dinh Viet Thang. Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) At a conference of the Transport Ministry reviewing its work in the first half of the year on June 28, Thang said as fuel costs account for 40-50% of operation costs, revenues increases are not sufficient to compensate for high fuel prices. He said domestic aviation transport has fully recovered with higher growth than in the pre-pandemic period. However, Vietnamese carriers have not fully escaped difficulties due to the slow recovery of the international market. It was reported at the conference that in the first half of the year, the number of international air passengers has increased monthly, from 103,500 in January to 127,000 in February, 224,600 in March, 445,700 in April, 650,000 in May and an … [Read more...] about Domestic air transport sees fast recovery, airlines suffer loss due to rising fuel prices

Although the summer holiday has just started, travel firms and agents have already completed 60-70 percent of their business plan while air carriers have also increased their flights to meet high travel demand. However, travel firms and agents are facing new difficulties: increasing tour prices because of rising fuel prices and a shortage of human resources. Millions of tourists ready for their trips Tran Quoc Bao, deputy director of Saigontourist Travel Company, said the company has expected to serve more than 280,000 tourists this summer. The number of tourists will be higher as tourist demand at home and abroad is surging. Three-to-eight-day domestic tours offered by Saigontourist are available nationwide. The most popular ones are tours of beaches, tours of northeastern and northwestern regions, 'green' tours, and community tours. “As summer is the peak season, we have prepared financial and human resources to diversify and better our services to meet market … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s travel firms see explosion of summer tours

Illustration. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi – Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan has asked the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) to promptly tackle flight delays and cancellations after latest data shows that up to 5,602 flights by domestic carriers were delayed in June (May 19 – Jun 18), accounting for 18.2per cent. The figure was 15.9 percentage points higher than the same period last year and 9.4 percentage points higher than may, according to the report by CAAV. The report indicates that six domestic airlines – Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Pacific Airlines, Vasco, Bamboo Airways, and Vietravel Airlines – operated total of 30,808 flights in June, up 528.7per cent compared to the same period last year and 18per cent against the previous month. National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and low-cost airline Vietjet Air outperformed the others, running 11,106 and 12,008 flights, respectively. It showed that Vietjet Air was the least punctual with 2,885 flights delayed, … [Read more...] about CAAV asked to tackle high rates in flight delays, cancellations

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines resumes services between Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta (Indonesia) on July 2. (Photo: VNA) The first flight in months, coded VN631, departed from HCMC for Jakarta at around 9:40am, with 144 passengers on board; and the return flight took off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 1:50pm carrying 171 passengers. There are now regular round trips on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. This is another international destination Vietnam Airlines has relaunched air route to after the Vietnam reopened its border and lifted travel restrictions. Nguyen Minh Toan, head of Vietnam Airline’s representative office in Indonesia, said there is high travel demand between Vietnam and Indonesia, and the resumption of an air route between the two countries, with three flights per week, marked a start for the carrier before it can recover the flight frequency to seven per week like pre-pandemic. Travellers can visit its official website at … [Read more...] about Vietnam Airlines relaunches services to Indonesia

Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) -  Vietnamese airlines are suffering losses amounting to hundreds of billions of dong each month due to a surge in fuel prices, according to the director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Dinh Viet Thang . At a conference of the transport ministry reviewing its work in the first half of the year earlier this week, Thang said that fuel costs accounted for 40-50% of operation costs, and revenue increases were insufficient to compensate for high fuel prices. He said domestic aviation transport had recovered with higher growth than in the pre-pandemic period. However, Vietnamese carriers had not fully escaped difficulties due to the slow recovery of the international market. It was estimated that domestic carriers suffered a loss of nearly 100 billion VND per month on skyrocketing jet fuel prices. Tran Thanh Hien, chief accountant at Vietnam Airlines, said Jet A1 prices averaged 72 USD per barrel in … [Read more...] about Airlines suffer losses due to rising fuel prices

Lychees are served to business class passengers on the airline’s domestic and international routes from Ha Noi from July 1-15. — Photo courtesy of VNA Bac Giang Province's signature fruit lychees returned to serve as in-flight meals on Vietnam Airlines (VNA) flights after a two-year pandemic, said the national flag carrier. According to Vietnam Airlines, the fruit is served to business class passengers on domestic and international routes from July 1-15. The move aims to introduce the speciality to domestic and foreign passengers and expand cooperation with businesses and localities to promote Vietnamese agricultural products to the world, said VNA. Since June 24, the airline has coordinated with Bac Giang Province to promote lychees on the e-commerce platform VNAMall. Vice Chairman of the Bac Giang People’s Committee, Phan The Tuan, said: “The province is home to the country’s largest lychee-growing area of more than 28,000ha. Bac Giang lychee was the first Vietnamese … [Read more...] about Vietnam Airlines resumes serving Bac Giang lychees

The figure was up 15.9 percent year-on-year and up 9.4 percent from last month, according to a report from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. The delay fights accounted for 18.2 percent of total flights operated by the country's six carriers last month, it said. Low-cost carrier Vietjet Air has the industry's highest rate of flight delays at 24 percent, followed by Vietnam Airlines (20.1 percent). CAAV said late-arriving aircraft was the main cause of delays in addition to other excuses like poor management and bad weather. The Ministry of Transport said the increase in flight delays has triggered public outcry among passengers and damaged the industry's reputation. It ordered airlines to ensure flights are punctual, especially during the peak summer travel season. In the first half of this year, the number of passengers going through Vietnam's airports reached 43.35 million, a pickup of 65.5 percent from a year ago and equivalent to 76 percent of pre-pandemic levels, … [Read more...] about Thousands of Vietnamese flights delayed in June

Approximately 100 tonnes of Vietnam’s ST25 rice has hit the shelves of Japanese supermarket chain in order to serve both Japanese consumers and Vietnamese nationals residing and studying in the Far East country. Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam (left) and President of Tokyo Financial Group at the event to promote Vietnam's ST25 rice The presence of ST25 rice in the Japanese market is part of trade promotion activities aimed at boosting the export of high-quality Vietnamese rice to demanding markets throughout the world. Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam pointed out that, despite the nation being the world’s largest rice producer, Vietnamese rice exporters are required to meet the 600 stringent technical standards to penetrate the Japanese market. The Vietnamese diplomat assessed that the introduction of Vietnamese rice in the fasdious market has been a great success for both local manufacturers and businesses. Watanabe Hisanobu, … [Read more...] about High-quality Vietnamese rice ST25 goes on sale in Japanese market