Domestic airfares to drop to ceiling prices from January 1, 2015

Starting today, January 1, 2015, many new policies and regulations of the Transport sector take effect and are applied.

New policies and regulations of the transport sector include fines for cars that are not transferred when buying and selling, increased fines for oversized and overloaded vehicles, mandatory energy labeling for cars, train ticket refunds with only a 5% fee, and a reduction in the ceiling price of air transport.

Airfares have officially been reduced from January 1. Economy class airfares on domestic flights have been reduced from VND5,000/passenger/km to VND4,250/passenger/km (excluding VAT). The Ministry of Finance has issued a Decision regulating the maximum fare range for economy class passengers on domestic routes with a monopoly position. Based on this ceiling fare range, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam provides guidance on determining specific fare levels to be applied uniformly to airlines in accordance with each period based on transportation costs.

(Illustration: Tri Thuc)

Since 2015, organizations that buy and sell cars without changing ownership will be fined up to 4 million VND and individuals that buy and sell cars without changing ownership. This fine has been changed to be lower than the previous Decree 71 by more than half. The penalty for this behavior with motorbikes will be postponed to 2017 and the fine will be 100,000 - 200,000 VND for individuals, and 200,000 - 400,000 VND for agencies and organizations.

From today, a new fine of 5-7 million VND will also be applied to oversized and overloaded vehicles for the act of driving a vehicle carrying goods exceeding the permitted weight (cargo volume) on the road. Secondly, for the act of driving a vehicle carrying goods exceeding the weight by more than 100%, the fine will be 7-8 million VND, higher than the current fine (5-7 million VND).

In addition to being fined, the driver who commits the violation will also have his/her driving license (when driving a car, tractor and similar vehicle) and certificate of training in road traffic law (when driving a specialized motorbike) revoked for 3 months.

According to Decision No. 51 of the Prime Minister, passenger cars with 7 seats or less will have to have energy labels in 2015. Before this regulation, some types of cars using modern technology had their fuel consumption levels proactively announced by manufacturers and considered it a competitive advantage of the product. Consumers, based on the fuel consumption levels of the car listed on the energy label, can choose the type of car that saves fuel costs during the entire period of use. The Vietnam Register implements the issuance of vehicle energy label certification, which is carried out simultaneously with the certification of technical safety and environmental protection.

Train ticket refunds cost 5%, instead of the previous 10% to 30%. This new deduction is officially applied to train tickets departing from stations from 1/1/2015.

Mr. Doan Duy Hoach, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Railways Corporation, said: "If passengers want to return their tickets to pay, the ticket must have the correct name, passenger, ID number, and personal information. The station will only refund the money 4 hours before the train departs and deduct 5%. The 5% rate is only for those who bought the correct tickets to travel. Speculating and hoarding tickets will be fined more."

The railway industry only accepts ticket refunds for passengers whose information on the ticket matches the personal information on their identification documents. Other regulations on ticket refunds are implemented according to current regulations. The 5% deduction when returning tickets does not apply to promotional tickets or group tickets./.

According to VOV.VN