The 2024 Lunar New Year holiday lasts 7 days, from February 8 to February 14, 2024 (December 29, year of the Cat to January 5, year of the Dragon), so many workers far from home and students want to return home to celebrate Tet with their families.

However, the ticket prices are too expensive, forcing them to switch to other means of transport or postpone their plans to return home for Tet and visit relatives.

Missed the dream of family reunion because the ticket price is too high

Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc and her husband, Mr. Pham Phu Phong, from a coastal commune in Hau Loc district (Thanh Hoa), work as workers at Song Than 2 Industrial Park, Di An (Binh Duong). They shared that since 2019, their family has been unable to return home for the Lunar New Year for various reasons.

Earlier this year, Ngoc’s family proactively planned to return home for Tet 2024, saving up some money to prepare for the move. But when they surveyed the airfare prices, they were shocked and hesitated to cancel the plan.

“The price of a round-trip flight ticket from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa is from 5 to 10 million VND/person. If a family of 4 goes, it will cost at least 20 million VND, plus the cost of transportation from Binh Duong to Tan Son Nhat airport, then from Thanh Hoa airport to Hau Loc, which is up to a million VND. That is not to mention many other expenses,” Ms. Ngoc calculated.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh (Ha Nam) and Mr. Tran Van Tue (from Nam Dinh) said that both husband and wife work as technical workers in a factory in Xuyen A Industrial Park (Duc Hoa district, Long An province).

According to Mr. Tue, because the baby was just over 2 years old, from the beginning of the year, he and his wife proactively saved money to bring the baby back to the countryside to visit his grandparents after more than 2 years of not seeing them.

However, when surveying the airfare from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, which ranges from over 5 million to 10 million VND/person/round trip ticket, their desire to return home seemed to be extinguished.

“If all three of us go together, we will have to spend at least 17 million VND, plus the cost of transportation from Long An to Tan Son Nhat airport, then from Noi Bai airport to Nam Dinh, which will cost up to a million VND. Besides, we cannot return empty-handed when visiting our families, so this year we may have to miss our appointment to return home to be with our families,” Mr. Tue lamented.

Not only Mr. Tue and Mr. Phong's families, but also tens of thousands of workers and laborers from the North and Central regions who come to the South to work are in similar situations when airfares to the Central and Northern provinces increase sharply during peak days.

Airlines increase flights, but ticket prices remain sky-high

A survey by VTC News shows that there are still many empty seats, and airlines have proactively increased flights, but most airfares during Tet are still expensive, from 5 to 10 million VND for a round-trip economy class ticket, and 16 to 19 million VND for business class.

Browsing through online airline ticket sales websites, it can be seen that airfares for the 2024 Lunar New Year on many routes are fluctuating from 4.5 - 10 million VND/round-trip ticket depending on the airline, flight time and flight date (including taxes and fees).

Specifically, the round-trip ticket price for the departure flight on February 8, 2024 (ie the afternoon of the 29th of Tet) and the return flight on February 15, 2024 (the 6th day of Tet) from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi of VietJet Air is 5,600,000 VND/ticket, Vietnam Airlines: 6,500,000 VND/ticket, Bamboo Airways: 7,200,000 VND/ticket and Vietravel Airlines: 6,200,000 VND/ticket (ticket price has been rounded).

Round-trip ticket price for Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh (Nghe An) route of VietJet Air is 5,700,000 VND/ticket; Bamboo Airways has price of 7,200,000 VND/ticket and Vietnam Airlines: 9,950,000 VND/ticket.

Ho Chi Minh City - Hai Phong route, VietJet Air ticket price is 6,200,000 VND; Vietravel Airlines: 4,100,000 VND; Bamboo Airways: 6,300,000 VND and Vietnam Airlines: 4,100,000 VND.

The flight from Hanoi to Nha Trang on February 11 (the 2nd day of Tet) and the return flight on February 17 (the 8th day of Tet) of VietJet Air costs 5,900,000 VND; Bamboo Airways: 6,700,000 VND and Vietnam Airlines: 7,200,000 VND.

Also departing on February 11 and returning on February 17, the Hanoi - Da Lat flight of VietJet Air costs 4,800,000 VND; Bamboo Airways: 7,200,000 VND. Particularly, the ticket price of Vietnam Airlines is up to 9,960,000 VND.

As for the Hanoi - Phu Quoc flight on this day, the ticket price of VietJet Air is 5,700,000 VND; Vietnam Airlines: 8,400,000 VND; Vietravel Airlines: 11,100,000 VND.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi - Da Nang route of VietJet Air is 3,400,000 VND; Vietravel Airlines: 3,300,000 VND; Bamboo Airways: 5,200,000 VND and Vietnam Airlines: 5,100,000 VND.

Responding to VTC News about the high price of Tet air tickets, a representative of an airline explained that Tet is always the peak time of the year when the number of passengers increases dramatically.

“This year, fuel and exchange rates are also much higher. Specifically, jet fuel prices increased from more than 110 USD/barrel to more than 130 USD/barrel and exchange rates also increased by about 10%. These are business difficulties for the airline, so increasing ticket prices to cover costs is necessary,” he said.

According to this representative, this year, some airlines are gradually downsizing and reducing the number of aircraft significantly. When supply decreases but demand increases dramatically, serving passengers during Tet will face many challenges.

Providing information to VTC News, two airlines Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways said that up to this point, the airlines have increased flights to serve passengers.

“Vietnam Airlines Group has added more than 100,000 seats, equivalent to nearly 550 flights, bringing the total to 2.1 million seats with 10,700 flights for the peak Tet season from January 25 to February 24, 2024 (ie from December 15, Quy Mao year to January 15, Giap Thin year). The additional flights focus on routes between Ho Chi Minh City/Hanoi and Da Nang, Hai Phong, Vinh, Thanh Hoa, Hue, Da Lat, Can Tho, Nha Trang, Phu Yen, Phu Quoc...”, said a representative of Vietnam Airlines.

Bamboo Airways also said that the airline signed a contract to lease 2 more Airbus A320/A321 aircraft and added them to the fleet from January 1, 2024, increasing the capacity by more than 20% to serve the peak of New Year and Lunar New Year 2024.

Bamboo Airways also focuses on increasing the frequency of flights on the main routes Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City, between Hanoi / Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang and local routes with high demand such as Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh / Thanh Hoa / Hai Phong. In addition, the airline also increases the number of night flights on the route Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi / Vinh / Da Nang with flexible and attractive prices.

PHAM DUY