Travel Adventures
Stu Ranger
TET is Travel Mania
Planes, trains and automobiles are all getting ready to transport 100’ s of thousands of people all over Vietnam to visit their home towns. Vietnamese airlines has just been approved for 1,270 additional domestic flights during Tet. The bus services are selling tickets like hot cakes. Vietnam’ s aviation watchdog has approved several proposals from local airlines to increase flight frequency to meet spiking demands during the upcoming Tet holiday, though only half the requested additions were approved. Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday, falls in late January, though city residents typically begin flying back to their hometowns weeks before holiday to begin festivities with friends and family.
Local airlines, national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget airlines Vietjet and Jetstar, sought permission to collectively add 2,486 flights, with only 1,270 of the proposed flights actually gaining approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam( CAAV). Vietnam Airlines is permitted to add 380 flights, totaling 76,758 seats, during the Tet season, while Vietjet and Jetstar will add 560 flights( 100,800 seats) and 330 flights( 59,400 seats), respectively. Approximately 1,067 of the approved extra flights will depart or land in Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the country’ s busiest
Tan Son Nhat airport
airdrome, already operating beyond its design capacity. Despite potential overload issues, during the Tet holidays the Ho Chi Minh City-based airport will serve 807 flights per day during peak time, a 7.7 percent increase from the usual schedule.
Vietnam Airlines is the only of the three carriers happy with the CAAV decision, with nearly 100 percent of their extra flight plan approved, meanwhile Vietjet will only be able to offer half of its proposed additional services while Jetstar was approved for 30 percent of its requests. Under the CAAV decision, the three carriers will collectively be
The MAG Vung Tau 5