Airline ticket prices for April 30th "hot" a month in advance

Tourists watch fireworks at Dragon Bridge, Da Nang

Van Thinh, living in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi , on the morning of March 12th searched for a plane ticket to Quy Nhon on the occasion of April 30th with his family. He planned to leave on April 27th (Saturday) and return on May 1st. However, the cheapest ticket, at the worst time, was about 5 million VND round trip. Thinh was surprised because people often shared that booking a month in advance would be less expensive.

"About 3.5-4 million VND might be reasonable, but 5 million VND for a plane ticket with a bad departure time makes me hesitate," he said.

According to a reporter's survey, tourists tend to travel on the upcoming April 30 holiday from the weekend of April 27 to fully enjoy the holiday.

The Hanoi - Quy Nhon route is one of the routes with the highest increase among the main tourist routes. The round-trip airfare surveyed for the period April 27-30 was VND5 million, VND600,000 higher than a month before the peak and VND2 million higher than a week after the peak. Last year, Best Price's ticket office data showed that customers who booked round-trip airfare close to the Hanoi - Quy Nhon route for the April 28-May 1 route paid VND2.3 million per person.

For the Hanoi - Da Nang route from April 27-30, the best price found on the morning of March 12 was 4.8 million VND round trip, 1.6 times higher than a week later and 1.4 times higher than a month ago. On April 22 last year, tickets for this route from April 28-May 1 cost 3.8 million VND.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi - Phu Quoc route from April 27-30 costs about 5 million VND, about 2 million VND higher than a month before and a week after the holiday. If you fly at a good time, the round-trip airfare for this route is about 7.2-8.6 million VND. The Hanoi - Nha Trang route costs 4.7 million VND, 1.5 million VND higher than the same period last month and 1 million VND higher than a week after the peak; the good time is about 7.6 million VND.

For routes departing from Ho Chi Minh City during the period of April 30 - May 3, the reporter's survey showed that the lowest ticket price to Phu Quoc was 3.8 million VND and Nha Trang was 4.6 million VND, both about 1 million VND higher than the same period last month and a week later. Meanwhile, the route from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi connecting northern tourist destinations costs about 4.3 million VND round trip - about 1 million VND higher than the average price for this route on weekdays.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Dat, General Director of AZA Travel, said that domestic tour products related to air tickets on the occasion of April 30th are selling slowly. High airfares combined with the fact that the holiday falls in the middle of the week have made the number of purchases not as good as foreign tours, especially China land tours. According to Mr. Dat, tourists want to travel domestically on the occasion of April 30th but are only now worrying about booking tickets, which is "too late".

Explaining why airfares are so high even though there is still more than a month until the holiday, Mr. Dat said it could be because many people buy tickets early to visit relatives or travel. On a flight, airlines will offer fares from low to high. If the low-priced fares run out, passengers will have to buy high-priced tickets if they need them. However, according to Mr. Dat, no one in the industry knows how the low and high fares are distributed.

Currently, he assessed that demand is not too high and airlines have not increased capacity to supply tickets for peak season. However, even if capacity is increased in the coming time, Mr. Dat predicts that airfares will be difficult to cool down because airlines such as Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air are affected by problems related to Pratt&Whitney engines used on A321/A320neo aircraft. The disruption in the supply chain has caused 12 A321 aircraft, or 20% of Vietnam Airlines' main fleet for domestic routes, to stop flying.

Although airfares are "hot", the demand for hotel rooms for the April 30 holiday is not high. Many travel agencies predict that rooms at destinations that require air travel will not be "sold out". However, tourists who want to travel to nearby destinations and travel by car need to plan their reservations early.

TB (according to VnExpress)

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