Vietnam: Air ticket prices under scrutiny

The Finance Ministry is urging the Transport Ministry to have detailed evaluations about the proposal of lifting the ceiling price for air tickets. The Finance Ministry recently wrote to the Vietnam Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Vietnam Register, departments of finance and transport under the Transport Ministry with regard to the proposal of lifting the ceiling price, the Finance Ministry said that civil aviation services and airfares were under the management of the Transport Ministry. According to the Finance Ministry’s Price Management Department, during the compilation of the amended Law on Price, the department received the proposal of removing domestic airfare ceiling from Vietnam Aviation Business Association, Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways. The department said that the established Law on Civil Aviation stipulates that airlines decide on prices of domestic air transportation services within the framework set by the Transport Ministry and was in charge of declaring prices with the Transport Ministry. Accordingly, the Finance Ministry urged the Transport Ministry to have detailed proposals coupled with assessments of the impacts of lifting the ceiling prices of domestic air tickets. At the meeting about the draft amended Law on Price in late April, the proposal of lifting the domestic ceiling price was also raised. Under the current bracket, airfares were capped at 1.6m dong (US$63) for routes below 500km and playing an important role in socio-economic development, 1.7m dong for other routes below 500km.<br/>