In a document sent to the Ministry of Transport, voters in Ho Chi Minh City requested to review fees and charges, analyze and evaluate the reasonableness of prices and costs of organizing the apparatus of airlines and ground service organizations.

The Ministry of Transport said that according to the provisions of Circular No. 17/2019 of the Ministry of Transport promulgating the price framework for domestic air transport services, airfares are made up of: Passenger transport service prices; Value added tax (VAT); Collections on behalf of enterprises providing passenger terminal services and security services (including passenger service prices and passenger and baggage security prices) and service prices for additional items (decided by the airline).

Regarding the structure of flight costs, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has reported based on data reported by Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air - the two airlines with the largest domestic transport market share.

Accordingly, the cost structure in the total cost of a flight in 2023 of airlines includes: fuel costs (accounting for 37-42%); costs related to aircraft equipment, repair and maintenance (accounting for 32-41%); flight service costs (ground services, flight operations...) account for 6-7%. The remaining costs include costs related to direct labor, sales costs, management costs, passenger services... accounting for 16-19%.

Costs related to flight services (ground services, flight operations...) account for a small proportion, about 6-7% of the cost of a flight and have almost no impact on increasing costs.

In particular, some types of service prices are listed by the Ministry of Transport in Circular No. 53/2019 of the Ministry of Transport regulating prices and price ranges for some specialized aviation services at Vietnamese airports.

In fact, most of the services specified in Circular No. 53/2019 have been maintained stable for a long time and there have been no price increases.

From the beginning of 2024 until now, the average economy class ticket price on some routes (including taxes and fees) of Vietnamese airlines has increased compared to the same period in 2023.

However, through checking the ticket sales activities of airlines, the Ministry of Transport recorded that airlines complied with regulations on maximum prices for basic economy class on domestic flights.

The increase in airfares of airlines is in line with the general trend in the world due to the impact of the main causes of market supply and demand (decline in the size of the operating aircraft fleet, increased travel demand during holidays, Tet...) and fluctuations due to increased fuel prices and exchange rates.

With the current forecasts and situation, to contribute to reducing pressure on airfares, the Ministry of Transport continues to synchronously and effectively implement solutions to ensure stability of the air transport force to provide appropriate and balanced loads on routes and domestic/international markets, well meeting the air travel needs of passengers.

The focus of the solutions is to adjust aircraft operating time, reduce aircraft turnaround time to transfer flights, optimize aircraft operating time during the day, and increase night flights...

The implemented solutions have partially compensated for the shortage of capacity due to the reduction in the fleet. In addition, the Ministry of Transport continues to effectively implement and monitor the implementation of price declaration, price posting, and price information disclosure measures in accordance with the law, as well as recommend that passengers plan to book tickets early to have more options with suitable fares.