Traveling by low-cost airline will save your budget.

Reducing the cost of public cars and planes when traveling on business is a concrete solution to save budget.

The fact that Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang issued a document requiring officials and civil servants to travel on low-cost airlines for work has become a much-discussed story in recent days. Although there are still many complaints about the service quality of low-cost airlines, in difficult economic times, budget revenue is decreasing, reducing the cost of public cars and planes when traveling on business is a specific solution to save the budget.

Both economical and close to the people

Never before has low-cost airlines been mentioned as much as they are now, starting with a surprising decision by Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang after his business trip. The head of the transport sector signed an official dispatch requesting that officials and civil servants of the ministry prioritize choosing low-cost airlines when traveling for work. There are also many opinions that this is like an administrative order forcing officials and employees under his authority. However, this is a decision that is assessed by National Assembly delegates as effective.

Besides the supportive opinions, many people are still concerned about whether it is possible to thoroughly implement the requirement for officials to travel on low-cost airlines for work?

Mr. Tran Ngoc Vinh, National Assembly Delegate of Hai Phong city, commented: “Currently, the Ministry of Transport requires some unqualified officials not to take high-priced air tickets, but to choose low-priced air tickets. This is to ensure the regime's policy towards officials. It also practices thrift as per the policy. For officials, implementing this is not just an economic calculation, more importantly, it is close to the people. This is something worth doing and should be replicated…”.

Agreeing with this view, Historian Duong Trung Quoc, National Assembly Delegate of Dong Nai province, said: “This is a separate policy of the Ministry of Transport, but it reflects the concern for rationalizing and improving the efficiency of using public funds of the State. However, this is a means of transportation to work, so it must ensure both factors: serving work reasonably and reducing spending. Not only the Ministry of Transport does this, but other places need to do the same.”

Before making this decision, Minister Dinh La Thang took a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on October 15. He and the Deputy Chief of the Ministry's Office went to Hanoi by Jetstar Pacific Airline, a low-cost airline, with a round-trip ticket costing only VND2.5 million. Meanwhile, if they had flown by another airline, the two of them would have spent nearly VND12 million for a round-trip ticket. Thus, the travel expenses for this business trip alone saved nearly VND10 million.

Messages that go viral

Besides the supportive opinions, many people are still hesitant about whether it can be implemented thoroughly or just said and left there. There is a problem that needs to be changed in the quality and service of low-cost airlines, which according to them, the weakness of low-cost airlines is that they cannot change the time and are often delayed, affecting their work.

Mr. Tran Du Lich, a National Assembly delegate from Ho Chi Minh City, welcomed and supported that idea, but raised the question: “Can it be implemented? I suggest that the Ministry of Transport and the aviation management agency should have a policy, which is a strategy for low-cost airlines. Besides building new airports, we should use old, low-cost terminals to develop low-cost airlines. If we can do that, it will benefit the whole society…”.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said that some officials and civil servants in the transport sector have been travelling on low-cost airlines after the request of the Minister. At the same time, it said that this is an opportunity for airlines to evaluate and improve their competitiveness and attract customers.

Mr. Luu Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry of Transport, said: “The competition of low-cost airlines will promote traditional airlines. The requirement is to approach the form of ticket sales with many different ticket prices. According to current regulations, any airline operating in the Vietnamese market must strictly ensure the implementation of safety and security factors, ensure flight hours of aircraft, periodic maintenance and inspection regimes and civil liability of the airline operating the flight…”

Low-cost airlines have been present in Vietnam since 2007, accounting for more than 35% of the domestic aviation market share. A few years ago, the Singaporean Prime Minister returned home as a regular passenger on a Tiger Airways low-cost flight after a visit to Vietnam. In Vietnam, whether Minister Dinh La Thang's decision is feasible or not depends on the coordination of ministries, branches, state agencies and airline ticket sales units. But the general spirit of the message is to encourage officials to travel to work by low-cost airlines to save budget. While we are tightening spending and reducing budget expenditures, this decision also needs to be spread to other areas./.

According to VOV