Airfare hike looms as Vietnam’s Vietjet increases service fees
No-frills Vietjet has decided to increase administrative service charges for both domestic and international routes, raising concern over a climb in air ticket prices.
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| Passengers complete check-in procedures at a Vietjet counter at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
Varying on routes, the new administration service charges show a spike of VND100,000-VND130,000 (US$4-US$6) from the current fee level.
On the same day, a representative of Vietjet confirmed this adjustment, adding that the reason for the fee increase would be cited later.
Meanwhile, flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and its low-cost peer Jetstar Pacific have made no movement regarding this kind of charge.
A source told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that upon Vietjet’s announcement, many ticket agents have encouraged their customers to place booking before June 1 to avoid the new service charges.
On the other hand, aviation experts criticize Vietnam’s carriers for a lack of transparency in charging service fees, from the above administrative fees to utility payments, while all these charges are added to the passenger's ticket price.
Recently, all the three major Vietnamese airlines have failed to make it to the world’s 50 cheapest airlines, according to the third Global Flight Pricing report by the leading travel planning platform Rome2rio.
Vietjet charges its passengers an average of US$$0.14 per kilometer, compared to US$$0.15 of its low-cost fellow Jetstar Pacific.
National carrier Vietnam Airlines had a much higher cost per kilometer ratio, US$$0.3.
