Air travel used to be enjoyable!!!

[ASEAN NOW News]

This week we reported that Vietnamese airfares were soaring due to the summertime travel demand and of course fuel price hikes.

 

A round trip between Hanoi and HCMC costs VND3.4-6.2 million for economy class, with the lowest price range offered by budget airlines like Vietjet.

 

The low prices are usually for flights that leave or arrive incredibly early in the morning or late at night.

The base fares for Vietjet and Vietravel do not include check-in baggage.

 

The higher fares on the route are charged by Vietnam Airlines.

 

Current ticket prices are already higher than the VND2.5-4 million range during the Lunar New Year holiday earlier this year.

 

Tickets for international trips have also become expensive this summer.

 

For the latter half of this month, a Hanoi-Bangkok round trip starts at VND5.5 million, and a Hanoi-Singapore round trip at VND5.3 million.

 

Before the pandemic, passengers could easily purchase tickets for similar flights starting at VND3 million.

 

Direct flights from Vietnam to Europe in September and October are also expensive, with a HCMC-Frankfurt trip starting at VND24 million, and a Hanoi-Paris trip starting at VND40 million.

 

Ticket prices will tend to drop in August, industry insiders said.

 

But will they?

 

The problems are similar around thew World with airlines cancelling hundreds of flights due to lack of qualified staff especially pilots and in some cases low passenger bookings.

 

 

Airports are also struggling to cope with again a lack of staff to take care of check in and baggage handling.

 

Tempers are being tested and the Vietnam Civil Aviation is now thinking of considering banning unruly passengers.

 

I suppose this predicament was to be expected as many airlines during the pandemic were forced to lay off staff just to stay afloat.

 

Now the industry just cannot cope as we the traveling public can’t wait to start taking holidays again.

 

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