Air Mekong says tickets for Tet flights still available

The start-up private carrier Air Mekong said on Monday that it still had empty seats on its flights to and from HCMC days before and after the Lunar New Year (Tet) as the biggest holiday in Vietnam that falls on February 3.
Truong Thanh Vu, director of commercial services at Air Mekong, confirmed the fares of the Tet flights available for booking on www.airmekong.vn and at the airline’s ticketing offices and agents in a time while other carriers said their seats had almost sold out for Tet flights.
Vu told the Daily on the phone on Monday that about 20% or more of seats on Air Mekong’s Tet flights remained unsold and most of these tickets were in the deluxe type with the price being higher than the economy-class tickets.
A single deluxe fare on Air Mekong’s website costs from VND2.7 million (around US$139) for the flights from Tan Son Nhat Airport to Noi Bai Airport within the week before the beginning of a Lunar New Year. The one-way fare for the flights the other way round starts from over VND1.8 million in the week after Tet.
On Monday, Vietnam Airlines sold part of the over 100,000 seats left on the 583 additional flights the carrier announced earlier this month for major routes. Vietnam Airlines will sell the remaining tickets of the additional flights from January 18 to February 20 on January 3 and 17 based on the demand-and-supply basis in order to minimize speculation.
Vietnam Airlines offers single fares from more than VND1.8 million (some US$92.3) for economy-class seats and VND3.35 million for business-class seats for the flights from HCMC to Hanoi, Haiphong and Vinh. The fares start from VND2.272 million and VND3.85 million respectively for the Can Tho-Hanoi services and VND1.181 million and VND2.1 million for the flights from Hanoi to HCMC and Danang.
Jetstar Pacific told the Daily on Monday that almost seats on its Tet flights had been booked, leaving little hope for passengers to fly with this low-cost airline back home and work. Passengers can only expect to buy those tickets that the holders have decided to change their departure days, but the chance is very small.
Vu said Air Mekong had seen almost all the tickets for its flights to Danang and the airports in Central Highlands including Buon Ma Thuot, Dalat and Pleiku snapped up. Therefore, the carrier is considering more flights to these destinations.
Air Mekong commenced domestic services in October this year and now operates 30 daily flights within the country. The VND200-billion carrier had agreed to sell a 30% stake to SkyWest Inc. - the holding company for SkyWest Airlines in the United States.