Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc stated the reason for not removing the ceiling price for air tickets.

This afternoon, May 23, National Assembly delegates discussed the Draft Law on Prices (amended). Most delegates said that the floor price should be removed and there were many different opinions on the ceiling price of airline tickets.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai chaired the discussion session on the Draft Law on Prices (amended), with contributions from delegates on floor and ceiling prices for airline tickets.

Commenting on the draft Law on Prices (amended), delegate Ta Van Ha, National Assembly Delegation (NAD) of Quang Nam province proposed removing the ceiling price and floor price for airline tickets.

According to the Delegate, if the ceiling price and floor price are left, it will not be consistent with the spirit of Resolution 11, the 5th Conference of the 12th Party Central Committee. Besides, removing the ceiling price and floor price for air tickets will also create healthy competition between other types of transport, ensuring the international commitments that Vietnam has participated in.

National Assembly member Ta Van Ha also said that air transport is not an essential service. Like rail transport, transport companies must have fair competition in transport services, reflecting market regulations and the law of supply and demand.

Therefore, from international experience, delegate Ta Van Ha said that not regulating ceiling and floor prices for air tickets will create conditions for airlines to implement flexible fare policies, offer many suitable price programs, increase cheap prices to stimulate demand and encourage people to use air transport services.

Delegate Ta Van Ha, National Assembly Delegation (NAD) of Quang Nam province spoke at the discussion session.

Meanwhile, delegate Nguyen Thanh Nam (Phu Tho) said that regarding passenger transport services, domestic aviation, this is a service whose price is determined by the state, the Ministry of Transport regulates the maximum price.

Agreeing with the explanation of the National Assembly Standing Committee to protect the interests of consumers, especially those with low incomes, to access aviation services, thereby reducing social costs and promoting economic development, it is necessary to have State regulation to ensure healthy competition and not cause negative impacts on aviation businesses.

However, in domestic aviation passenger transport services, there are many different classes, serving many different customer groups. Delegates suggested that it is necessary to clearly stipulate in the draft law that only economy class domestic air passenger transport services are on the list of services priced by the state, while business class and premium economy classes are left to businesses to set their own prices according to market mechanisms, to ensure healthy competition, provide increasingly better services, and meet the increasingly high demands of the people.

Delegate Nguyen Thanh Nam (Phu Tho) spoke at the discussion session.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Suu (Thua Thien Hue) agreed with the National Assembly Standing Committee's view on maintaining the ceiling price regulation and removing the floor price regulation for domestic air passenger transport services.

However, according to the delegate, regarding the airline's "zero-dong price", it was affirmed that in reality there was no air ticket, the zero-dong price, the community price did not include taxes and fees, and in reality, consumers still had to pay a certain amount of money.

Recently, some airlines have applied 0 VND fares, which means a form of promotion that only applies to a few seats, for one flight, and in reality, the price to be paid is not 0 VND.

Therefore, delegate Nguyen Thi Suu suggested that it is necessary to consider adjusting the term "zero price" with appropriate terms such as preferential price or promotional price to avoid misunderstanding, exploitation, abuse and also demonstrate transparency in the Competition Law.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc spoke to explain a number of issues of concern to delegates.

Speaking to explain some issues of concern to delegates, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that regarding the floor price and ceiling price of domestic aviation, the Minister said that keeping the ceiling price helps reduce social costs, promote economic development, and create conditions for everyone to access domestic aviation services. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the ceiling price of domestic aviation.

Regarding the floor price, through consulting international experience, many countries in the world have removed the floor price, airlines have a very wide price range for many types of flights, many ticket classes, the drafting agency agreed to remove the floor price for this service.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/bo-truong-bo-tai-chinh-ho-duc-phoc-neu-ly-do-chua-bo-gia-tran-ve-may-bay-228272.html