More efforts required to make night flights more attractive to passengers

Airlines have been increasing the number of night flights to meet demand amid an aircraft shortage, but the inconvenience and fear of fatigue mean passengers shun them.

In the last two months carriers have increased their flying hours to cope with the rising summer demand, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines’ planes are now flying for 11 hours a day, up from the earlier 10. They can fly for 12 hours if needed.

Vietjet’s aircraft are operating for 13 hours, and Vietravel Airlines and Bamboo Airways’ for 12.5 hours.

Vietnam Airlines plans to operate an additional 2,000 flights after 9 p.m. on routes from and to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang, and Quy Nhon.

Vietjet will add 3,100 night flights to its domestic routes in the summer, equivalent to 1.4 million seats. Bamboo Airways and Vietravel Airlines have also announced night flight increases to meet the travel needs of passengers.

A night flight can be 20-40% cheaper than a day flight. For example, one-way ticket for Hanoi - Nha Trang flights on June 27 of Vietnam Airlines were priced from 3.4-4.3 million VND (134-170 USD) for normal flying time, however, passengers only paid 2.1-2.6 million VND for flights departing at 9pm or 6am. Meanwhile, on Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City route offered by Vietjet on July 5, passengers paid only 1.55-1.6 million VND for one-way ticket, including taxes and fees, on night or early morning flights.

However, airlines are not too optimistic about demand for such flights. Vietnam Airlines CEO Le Hong Ha said his carrier had to cancel 10% of night flights in May due to lack of passengers.

According to Ha, passengers are concerned that they may take an extra night of stay when the check-in/check-out policies of hotels are not flexible. At the same time, public means of transport to serve the needs of night travel are not available, he added.

In order to increase economic efficiency and help passengers to take advantage of cheap ticket price policy of the aviation industry, the Vietnam Airlines leader said that the aviation and tourism industries need to join hands to have night flight programmes and policies.

Nguyen Quoc Ky, chairman of Vietravel Airlines and tourism firm Vietravel, said people who travel for leisure rarely prefer late flights and only do so when they have to, such as before a long vacation or for a long-distance trip.

Currently, the national flag carrier is working with large enterprises such as Vingroup, and Sungroup... The design of the night flight combined tour, taking into account a 50% discount or free hotel fee for the first night for visitors.

Hotel and accommodation businesses are suggested to develop a variety of check-in/check-out time slots to encourage tourists to fly out and return during off-peak hours. Localities themselves also need to join hands and design appropriate tours and tourism products to encourage passengers to choose night flights on domestic routes.

The Vietnam Tourism Advisory Board has called on hotels to offer multiple check-in and check-out options for the convenience of people arriving by night flights./.