A review of airline ticket prices by the Vietnam Aviation Administration has found that domestic airlines have not breached pricing regulations. The airfare regulator put out the call last week for consumers who felt they had overpaid for airfares. After a brief investigation, however, they have found that airfares prices have been within the current guidelines.

The rising price of airfares in Vietnam has been in the news a lot lately. This is possibly connected to reports that the national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, recorded a ‘new record’ profit in the first quarter of this year of VND 4.53 trillion or US$178 million. This was, however, only after the company leasing planes to Vietnam Airlines subsidiary, Pacific Airlines, agreed to write off US$220 million worth of debt in exchange for the return of the planes. In this context, this is likely a one-off rather than a step forward.

More broadly, Vietnam’s domestic airline industry has taken a series of hits over the last five years that have seen two airlines on the cusp of disappearing altogether, and the national carrier at risk of being delisted from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange. Price caps on ticket prices have been raised as one of the key issues facing local airlines.

For more information see: Vietnam’s Airline Industry Turbulence: Unpacked