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Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines and
many other foreign air carriers have
petitioned the Civil Aviation Agency of
Vietnam (CAAV), the Ministries of
Transport and Finance about the overly
high airport service fees, which are
‘unbearable’ for airlines.
Service
fees galloping
The fees of a lot of airport services
have soared by ten times, which has been
putting big difficulties on airlines’
operations.
According to the airlines, the fee for
hiring the check-in counter has soared
by 5 times, from VND980,000 to
VND5.8mil/flight. Especially, the fee
for carrying passengers in airports has
risen from VND450,000 to
VND4.3mil/flight.
Both the Northern and Southern Airport
Complexes have released new service
fees, which see sharp increases compared
to the previously applied levels. The
fee to carry one passenger for several
hundreds meters is now VND30,000, higher
than the fee for carrying one passenger
from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi (40
km/VND25,000).
After the new terminal in Tan Son Nhat
airport became operational, the Southern
Airport Complex raised the service fee
of using VIP rooms from $15 to $32 (up
113%). The decision has been facing
strong protest from domestic airlines
and representative offices of foreign
air carriers.
The overly high service fees have been
worrying airlines. Luong Hoai Nam,
General Director of Pacific Airlines,
said that with the high in-land service
fees, domestic flights, especially the
ones to local airports (Hue, Cam Ranh),
will suffer heavy losses.
“If the situation cannot be improved, we
will have to consider cancelling plans
to open new routes to Da Lat and Buon Ma
Thuot in August,” Nam said.
A representative of the national flag
air carrier Vietnam Airlines said that
the airline is negotiating with airports
on the new service fees and it will not
accept the illegal price increases made
by airports.
The representative said that the service
fees are now set by the Ministry of
Finance as these are monopoly services.
In fact, airports have the right to set
fee levels for some kinds of services,
but they must negotiate with airlines
about the fee increases.
Duong Chi Thanh, chairman of the
association of the airlines operating in
Vietnam, also sent a petition to state
management agencies, stating that the
service fee levels prove to be overly
high compared to the regional fees.
Monopoly the culprit
The Ministry of Finance late last week
sent dispatch No 4049 to the Northern
and Central Region Airport Complexes and
Vietnam Airlines Corporation.
The dispatch clearly stipulated that the
move by airports of unilaterally raising
the land services fees without having
the agreement of clients (airlines)
proves to be contrary to the current
laws on price control.
Luu Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of the Civil
Aviation Administration of Vietnam
(CAAV), said that the Ministry of
Finance has pointed out five types of
services for which the ministry needs to
build up frame prices, and four types of
services for which the ministry needs to
set fixed prices. Airports have the
right to define the fee levels of other
types of services after negotiations
with clients. If the service users and
providers cannot reach agreements, the
Ministry of Finance will chair the price
negotiations.
Analysts say that the timely statement
by the Ministry of Finance has helped
soften the situation. However, they say
that the problem will not be settled
until the monopoly is removed.
Source : TBKTVN |
