Airlines fly overnight in Tet

The airlines said they would fly overnight from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., to meet the travel needs of passengers. In the photo: Vietnam Airlines night flight – Photo: QUANG DINH

The airlines confirmed that they were ready to serve passengers during Tet 2021. Not only did they depart at the end of the day, the airlines said they would increase the load of night flights, that is, from 1 am to 5 am to meet travel needs of the passengers.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre, the airlines said they have worked with the airport, the ground service unit, on a plan to serve passengers overnight in service equipment and services. “Unlike every year, a series of night flights on some peak days, the fare is cheaper than during the day,” said the leader of an airline.

Cheaper tickets

Less than a month to the Lunar New Year 2021, the number of new Tet air tickets is still abundant, the airline has launched more promotions, opening new routes for customers to choose from.

Many passengers admit that this year’s airfares are less “danceable”, the peak period is from February 8 to 11 (December 27 to 30), or after the Lunar New Year from February 15 to 19 (from 4 to January 8), the volume of tickets is abundant, the price is wide.

The itinerary for Ho Chi Minh City – Hanoi is increased by 30-35 flights / day, the cheapest ticket price is 2.1 – 2.8 million VND / Vietjet ticket; Vietnam Airlines costs between 3.5 and 4.6 million dong; Bamboo Airways costs VND 3.2 – 3.6 million / ticket (including tax).

According to the airlines, not only the flights that leave late at 23:30 and fly early in the morning at 5:30 the next day, the new point is that a lot of night flights appear.

Vietnam Airlines has increased the flight in some sectors from 0h-5: 30 with lower fares of 200,000 to 300,000 VND / ticket compared to flights departing during the day.

Specifically, from February 6 to 9 (December 25 to 28), Vietnam Airlines operates more than 20 flights from Ho Chi Minh City – Da Nang, including 3-4 flights that depart between 0am and 5:30 am. sparkly.

And the number of night flights increased on February 11 and 12 (December 29 and 30) with a frequency of 4-5 night flights, bringing the total number of operations to 24-26 flights / day.

Similarly, Vietnam Airlines increases flights from Ho Chi Minh City – Vinh, Hai Phong, Hue … to increase the load of night flights with a frequency of 4-5 flights. Meanwhile, Vietjet added more flights at 11:30 p.m. and early morning at 5:30 a.m.

Rather than choosing to fly during the day, Ms Pham Thi Ty (Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City) said that she had saved almost 2 million VND by purchasing four Tet tickets for the flight leaving at 4: 30 am, February 6 (December 25) on Vietnam Airlines.

According to Ms Ty, if you leave early from 8:00 to 22:00, the cheapest fare for the HCMC – Da Nang route is 2.3 million VND / ticket, four tickets cost 9.2 million VND. So please choose the departure time at 4:30 am with the price of 1.8 million VND / ticket, the total amount to buy air tickets is only 7.2 million VND, saving 2 million VND.

“For Tet, get up early to the airport, leave at 4:30, and then return to Da Nang around 6 am. If you go like this, there are fewer people at the station while you wait for the procedures. home. “- said Mrs. Ty.

Airlines are increasing night flights, passengers have more schedule options, and fares are also cheaper – Photo: C.TRUNG

Add a promotion, open new routes

Nguyen Quang Trung, head of the development planning department of Vietnam Airlines, said the number of night flights on the occasion of New Year’s Eve increased more than 30% compared to last year.

Most night flights are charged on peak days to meet people’s travel needs.

In addition to the reason for focusing on domestic operation, according to Trung, the increase in night flights is also aimed at reducing the burden on the airline and the airport during the peak period and adding time options for customers.

Additionally, night flights are often several hundred thousand cheaper than daytime flights to encourage travel.

According to Mr. Trung, on average, the price of Tet tickets decreased by more than 10% compared to the previous year. The airline opens more ticket classes, more smooth tickets on a flight, more flexible for passengers to choose.

Airlines believe that when the runway at Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai is put into operation, it is certain that the airline’s operational capacity will be better by reducing the round-trip fare and increasing take-offs for Tet.

Meanwhile, the deputy CEO of an airline said he still wants to increase night flights like Vietnam Airlines to meet customers’ travel needs. If you open more flights, the fare for the night flight is also smoother.

However, the problem is not getting a time slot and some airports are not “enthusiastic” about serving night flights.

According to this post, an operating flight is a chain from the airport, security, ground service, air traffic … Therefore, the airline wants to fly but one of the lines is not interested, but it is not deployed. OK.

“The cost of operating the station, electricity, labor … to attend a night flight is very high. With some airports, there are few flights, if the night service increases, the efficiency is not high, that’s why the airline wants I can’t fly either ”- said this man.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre, a leader of the Vietnam Airports Corporation – ACV, said that 21 airports were required to be ready to serve the Tet flight plan, to fully meet the epidemic’s quality and safety criteria. Service. This position confirmed that when the airline increased flights, night flights were especially maximized at provincial airports.