Many domestic airlines are offering discounted fares for the New Year holiday.

Specifically, this December, Vietnam Airlines, the national airline, is offering promotional fares on new routes connecting with Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Macau. For flights to China, from now until December 31st, the airline is selling round-trip tickets (including taxes and fees) for the Ho Chi Minh City/Hanoi - Shenzhen route from only US$145 per person. Also during this period, until March 31st, 2020, the Da Nang - Chengdu route is priced at US$100 per one-way trip, including taxes and fees.

On December 15th, Vietnam Airlines will launch a new route connecting Hanoi and Macau with one flight per day. The airline is also offering round-trip tickets, including taxes and fees, for $157 USD from now until December 15th, with travel dates between December 15th, 2019 and January 15th, 2020.

Furthermore, Vietnam Airlines is offering promotional round-trip tickets for groups of two people starting from $199, excluding taxes and fees. Specifically, flights from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang to Tokyo and Osaka are priced at $344 per person (including taxes and fees). Flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to Fukuoka and Nagoya are priced at $394 per person (including taxes and fees). The promotion is valid until December 8th, for travel dates between February 10th and June 10th, 2020.

Vietjet has also just announced a new route from Ho Chi Minh City to Pattaya (Thailand). Flights will operate regularly from December 23rd with a frequency of one flight per day. To celebrate this event, the airline is offering 100,000 promotional tickets at 0 VND (excluding taxes and fees) until December 5th for all routes Vietjet currently operates in Thailand, including the route from Taichung to Bangkok and domestic routes within Thailand. The travel period is from December 23, 2019 to October 24, 2020.

In late November, Bamboo Airways launched regular direct flights to South Korea, including Da Nang - Seoul (from October 17th) and Cam Ranh - Seoul (from November 15th). The Hanoi - Seoul route is expected to operate from December 2020. Later this year, the airline will also operate a direct flight from Hanoi to Melbourne.

Affordable destinations for the New Year's holiday include Da Lat, where the Flower Festival is about to take place, and Da Nang. Round-trip flights from Hanoi to Da Lat start at around 2.2 million VND (including taxes and fees); round-trip flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat cost 1.6 million VND (including taxes and fees). For round-trip flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to Da Nang, the lowest fare in late December is 1.7 million VND, while regular fares are around 2 million VND. Tickets for the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, and Vinh routes currently sold by airlines are priced at over 3 million VND per way (including taxes and fees).

During the Lunar New Year period from January 9th to February 8th, 2020 (corresponding to the 15th day of the 12th lunar month to the 15th day of the 1st lunar month), Vietnam Airlines plans to add 190,000 seats (nearly 1,000 flights) on domestic routes. Jetstar Pacific will also add nearly 40,000 seats (over 220 domestic flights). Along with the Lunar New Year ticket sales in September, this increase in domestic capacity by the Vietnam Airlines Group (including Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific, and VASCO) has raised the total number of seats available during the Lunar New Year to 2.23 million, equivalent to nearly 12,000 flights.

During the Tet holiday period, Bamboo Airways added nearly 700,000 seats compared to the same period last year (equivalent to 3,600 flights), providing a total of nearly 1 million seats. The added flights mainly focused on high-demand routes between Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, Vinh, Thanh Hoa, etc.

My Tong