Vietnamese carriers far from world’s cheapest, high fuel costs to blame

None of Vietnam’s carriers made it to the top 50 list of cheapest airlines by average ticket price per kilometer, according to a 2018 report on global flight price by Melbourne-based transport search engine Rome2Rio.

The report analyzed about 1.5 million price points for economy-class airfares from Europe, Americas and Asia Pacific as displayed by Rome2Rio during this year’s first two months.

At the top of the list were Australia’s Tigerair Australia, Malaysia’s AirAsia X and Indonesia’s Indonesia AirAsia at $0.06, $0.07 and $0.08 per kilometer, respectively.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese carriers are falling behind, with Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific and Vietnam Airlines priced at $0.14, $0.15 and $0.30 per kilometer, respectively.

The report also shows that Vietnam is ranked 15th in the list of cheapest average airfare per kilometer ranked by country.

Vietnamese carriers’ higher-than-average airfares were due to high fuel costs, said an airline representative, as reported by local newspaper Tuoi Tre on Thursday.

“Vietnam’s fuel costs are 20 to 30 percent higher than other countries’,” the representative said. This representative also noted that fuel costs represent the highest percentage in an airline’s total operational costs, at 30 to 40 percent.

Despite Vietnam's status as a crude oil exporter, the country still heavily depends on importing refined oil from other countries.

"Vietnam will not be free of imports of refined fuels, although combined diesel and gasoline imports will halve from about 200,000 barrels per day in 2016," said Suresh Sivanandam, analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.