Vietnam budget airlines get better and better
04/12/07 (GMT+7)
It now costs only $134 to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney (half the previous cost) and VND15,000 for a trip to Bangkok to cheer the Vietnamese national soccer squad at the 24th SEA Games.
Passengers now have a lot of opportunities to fly budget airlines which are all recently offering huge discounts.
To commemorate Jetstar’s one-year anniversary of its Vietnam – Australia route, between 12.01 pm on November 30 to 7.59 pm on December 10, 2007, Hanoi time, the airline offers Ho Chi Minh City – Sydney tickets at a preferential price of $134 (not including taxes, fees and surcharges, estimated at $123.80). There are three flights per week from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney.
According to Alan Joyce, Jetstar’s General Director, in the route’s first year, Jetstar carried over 60,000 passengers. The number of travelers between Vietnam and Australia has been increasingly high. In the first nine months of the year, the number of Vietnamese travelers to Australia increased by nearly 50%, while the number of Australians to Vietnam rose by 30%.
Vietnamese football supporters, who want to fly to Thailand to cheer the national squad at the 24th SEA Games, also have the opportunity to travel at super-low prices, $0.90 for a one way ticket, not including taxes and fees.
According to Phan Nhu Dung, Chief Representative of Nok Air in Hanoi, SEA Games’ soccer matches will take place in six different Bangkok locales, several kilometers from each other. However, using the metro system and sky train, travel within the city is easy.
Besides, Vietnamese football supporters will also have the opportunity to watch Manchester United play on Old Trafford field on March 8 if they fly AirAsia’s Hanoi – Bangkok or Hanoi – Kuala Lumpur routes and win the lucky draw.
AirAsia has also announced it will award five couples free Hanoi – Bangkok return tickets, and five couples free Hanoi – Kuala Lumpur tickets between April 1 and December 31, 2008. These tickets will include transportation fee, taxes and surcharges.
According to the General Statistics Office, in the first ten months of the year, nearly 261,700 people arrived in Vietnam by air.
There are five budget airlines now operational in Vietnam, Pacific Airlines, Jetstar, AirAsia, Tiger Airways and Nok Air.
According to Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon, budget airlines have influenced prices of the Hanoi – Bangkok route, now down 50%, as well as forced the national carrier Vietnam Airlines to lower airfare to be more competitive. There have been big changes in the market share of the route: 20% is held by Vietnam Airlines, 27% by Air Asia, 45% by Thai Airways, the other 8% belongs to Air France and Nok Air.
(Source: Vietnamnet)
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