Gov't announces a fee hike in airport charges

Since 2015, the Airports Corporation of Viet Nam (ACV) has many times proposed to the Ministry of Transport (MoT) for a rise in numerous airport service charges. The ministry has recently decided to approve their latest proposal. The decision will take effect from 01 October, 2017.

One addition of note is the security service charge applied on entry-refused passengers who stay for more than 24 hours. According to the new regulation, the carriers with such passengers will be charged US$9 per passenger per hour or US$90 per passenger per day.

The security service charge per pax will be 2 dollars for international flights, instead of 1.5 dollar as the current rate. The same fee for domestic flights will also rise by a range up to 0.5 dollar.

International passenger service charge will be increased at a number of newly-upgraded airports such as Da Nang, Cat Bi and Vinh. The charge will be raised from US$16 to US$20 at Da Nang Airport, and doubled from US$8 to US$16 at Cat Bi and Vinh Airports. Also, the similar charge for domestic flight will be adjusted with a rise of about 7%.

The landing and taking-off service charges will also increase. Photo: Internet

In addition, the Department of Aviation said that there needs to be an increase in landing and taking-off service charges to cover the costs of maintenance, repairs, upgrades and investment in new runways, since the budget is already limited.

These two charges will increase by 5% between 01 October 2017 and 30 June 2018, and then continue to rise by 10% afterwards. The fee will be charged at 115% of its normal rate during on-peak hours, and only 85% of that during off-peak hours.

According to a representative of a domestic airline, txthe new regulations mentioned above will force carriers to increase their fares accordingly. He said that the airline might keep the ticket prices and accept a lower revenue to maintain their competitiveness, however, they will have to adjust their fares in the long term.