HCMC – Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air operated a total of 399 ferry flights from the Tan Son Nhat airport to take passengers from northern and central provinces to HCMC from January 26 to 30 as the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet) ended.

Migrant workers in HCMC and some neighboring provinces returned to their hometowns in northern and central Vietnam in droves to celebrate Tet with their family. Since the holiday ended last week, they have got back to work in large numbers, leading to an upsurge in air traffic from northern and central provinces to the southern city.

Among 720,000 passengers going through the Tan Son Nhat airport during the five days, domestic passengers to HCMC skyrocketed compared to the pre-Tet period and accounted for 60%.

According to the Southern Airports Authority, the number of passengers going through Tan Son Nhat has dropped from its peak at an estimated 135,000 passengers a day and is forecast to decline in the coming days.

The number of ferry flights highlighted a big imbalance between the travel demand to and from HCMC but could not lead to a drop in air ticket prices as expected, as a ferry flight’s cost is just a little lower than that of a commercial revenue-generating flight.