On February 23, the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines announced that some of their night and morning flights on the Hanoi-HCM City route had run out of economy class tickets, while tickets for other flights all cost over VND3.50 million. Bamboo Airways and Vietjet Air were also selling tickets at prices starting from VND3.40 million on the same route. Prices on their sites only fall from March.
Passengers booking the Haiphong-HCM City flights on February 23 could only find seats on Vietjet Air flights and one flight operated by Bamboo Airways.
Meanwhile, there were no tickets left on the Chu Lai-HCM City on February 23 and passengers who wanted to fly that day could only take transfer flights. It is said that ticket shortages on this route would continue until February 28 when Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air would add more flights.
Explaining the lack of flights, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), said that some local airlines using the Airbus A321 Neo had their planes undergoing maintenance.
"Vietnam Airlines had 20 such planes and Vietjet Air 24, CAAV said.
During the Tet holiday between February 14-19, Vietnam Airlines operated up to 481 flights per day while the figure dropped to only 401 on February 20. Vietjet Air also reported a fall from between 455 - 468 flights during Tet to 364 flights on February 20.
On February 21, CAAV sent a document asking Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Bamboo Airways, Pacific Airlines, and Vietravel Airlines to provide information on their domestic route prices during the 2024 Tet Lunar New Year holiday following complaints from the media and public about the ratcheting up of flight prices and lack of flights during the Tet holiday.
