Int'l Air-routes to Vietnam May Be Overloaded During Tet

The strong increase in the number of Vietnamese people abroad returning home to enjoy the Lunar New Year (Tet), that falls on January 29-February 1, has rocketed air ticket prices and may cause the air-routes be overloaded.

 

That the Russian Aeroflot carrier, which often had two Russia-Vietnam flights during last Tet Festival, has cancelled all flights to Vietnam since August due to safety concerns involving the plane’s brakes and the incapacity of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) have pushed up the price of air ticket for the route to a record level.

 

“We won a seat on a flight to Hanoi at a price of even US$300 higher than one had it some hours ago,” a Vietnamese student in Russia said, adding that a return-ticket for the route rose by US$400 to US$1,200.

 

According to Nguyen Tan Chan, Press Official of the VNA, the scarcity of tickets for the route during Tet is highly possible as there are a great number of overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese students in Russia and surrounding nations.

 

VNA now has six flights for the route per week and does not plan to adjust the ticket price, Chan said.

 

Other international routes such as Hanoi-Paris, Hanoi-Frankfurt are also hot-spots for air-tickets.

 

Ms. Truong Thi Hoang Thuy, Head of Customer Office of Air France revealed that her carrier has five flights to Vietnam and the seat occupancy rate reached up to 80 per cent. A scenario of overloading at Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City – Paris is almost likely, she said.

 

“However, we will not increase the flights as such situation occurs only at some certain period of time,” Thuy said, stressing that other carriers will also have the same view as it would impact on their air-network balance.

 

Even the VNA, which put some additional trips during 2005 Tet, has not announced any official plan to raise the number flights on international routes.

 

During the past Lunar New Year in early 2005, Vietnam welcomed around 200,000 overseas Vietnamese, posting an on-year increase of 20 per cent, with most of them from the US, France, Canada and Australia.

 

This year, the number is expected to be higher with more than 100,000 to Ho Chi Minh City alone.

 

There are around three million overseas Vietnamese residing in 90 countries and territories around the world, including about 1.5 million in the US, 300,000 in France, 250,000 in Australia and 180,000 in Canada.