After a long period of escalation, air ticket prices have begun cooling down, though it is now the high summer season.

Airfares have fallen sharply for flights on Hanoi – HCM City route, Hanoi-Da Nang/Phu Quoc, HCM City – Da Nang/Nha Trang/Phu Quoc, especially flights taking off late at night and early in the morning.

The sharpest decreases, by half, have been reported for Hanoi/HCM City - DaNang flights

If booking flights in June, on both weekdays and weekends, return tickets are from VND2 million (Vietjet Air) and VND2.7 million (Vietnam Airlines) if passengers depart in off-peak hours. They have to pay VND2.9-3.7 million for flights at the busiest time.

For HCM City – Da Nang flights, airfares are VND2.4-3 million in mid-June and mid-July for late flights.

Airfares from Hanoi in the north and HCM City in the south to the central city of Da Nang have fallen by 30-50 percent compared with the May holiday, when airfares were VND4-4.5 million.

Tickets from Hanoi to Phu Quoc (Kien Giang) remain high for flights in June, VND4.5-5 million, but have dropped to VND3.8 million for flights in July and VND3 million in August. From September to December, return tickets to the island are only around VND2 million.

There are still cheap tickets, VND390,000 per trip, not including tax and fee, for all departure times. However, analysts said the airfares drop in these months because Phu Quoc will enter the rainy season.

If flying from HCM City to Phu Quoc, weekend tickets in July are around VND2.55 million, including flights with departure at favorable time.

As for the backbone route of Hanoi – HCM City, tickets are between VND3 million and VND3.6 million.

However, airfare decreases are not on all routes. Tickets for Hanoi – Tuy Hoa flights in June have been selling out. Passengers can book tickets for July, but there are not many choices, with prices hovering around VND5-6 million per return ticket.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has confirmed that the price of economy-class tickets for domestic routes have decreased, and are considerably lower than the ceiling levels.

The ceiling airfare for Hanoi – Da Nang flights is VND2.89 million, while Vietnam Airlines offers tickets at VND700,000-1.8 million (25-62 percent of ceiling level), and Vietjet Air VND400,000-1.7 million (13.5-57.1 percent of ceiling).

The tickets for Hanoi – Phu Quoc flights had previously climbed to a record high of VND8 million, but have dropped to VND2.3 million (Vietnam Airlines), or 57 percent of the ceiling level (VND4 million). Vietjet Air tickets are VND1.4-2 million, or 35-51 percent of the ceiling levels.

Passengers have choices if they book tickets for flights in the distant future. In general, tickets in July are just 20-70 percent of ceiling levels. If passengers fly before 6 am or after 9 pm, they will pay less than VND2 million for Hanoi/HCM City to Da Nang/Nha Trang.

Vietnam Airlines recently increased the number of flights at off-peak hours after 9 pm. Vietjet Air’s number of night flights has also increased by 46 percent.

Nguyen Lan Thuy, an agent, in Cau Giay district in Hanoi told VietNamNet that she booked tickets for a Hanoi – Nha Trang flight in a busy time in mid-June at an acceptable price of VND3.7 million per return ticket (including tax, fees). But several days ago, when she booked two additional tickets for the same flight, she was told that the airfare had soared to VND5 million.

The mother and son rebooked and expect to check in hotel at 10pm and get back at 2am for a price of only VND3 million for return tickets.

“The mother will return at dawn, so she will be able to go to her office after a short relaxing time, while the boy can make up for lost sleep as he is now enjoying the summer holiday,” she explained.

Ngoc Ha