When the Prime Minister uses a 'commercial plane'

On October 28th, a high-level delegation of the Vietnamese Party and State, led by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, to pay respects to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This was an important diplomatic trip, but notably, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chose to travel by commercial aircraft. According to current regulations, the Prime Minister has the full right to request a special aircraft for the trip.

The Prime Minister pays his respects to the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

However, it's clear that this was a trip to attend a funeral, so choosing to travel by commercial airline was very reasonable. It's not that in the past, no high-ranking leader in Vietnam has chosen to travel abroad on official business by flying with other passengers. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's choice to travel by commercial airline still attracted considerable attention and appreciation from the public. This demonstrates his consistent policy of setting an example in spending state budget funds.

In early August, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stated that he did not agree to the purchase of new vehicles (even if they met the standards). Following this, he also requested that local authorities not use more than three vehicles to accompany him on official trips to localities.

Of course, everyone understands that this is aimed at rectifying the excessive use of official vehicles. Typically, when Party and State leaders visit localities, provincial and city leaders often arrange for numerous vehicles, leading to unnecessary waste. Therefore, by choosing commercial flights for this trip abroad, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's delegation also demonstrates a consistent policy of saving budget expenditures.

Some people with a negative mindset might say it's just public relations (PR) or image building. But whatever the case, the best thing about this, and something you should immediately recognize, is that it creates a habit, an important precedent.

Because if this practice is adopted, from now on, the Prime Minister and other Party and State leaders, for similar trips, can also choose to travel by commercial aircraft more frequently. This would result in enormous savings on the cost of using private jets.

Furthermore, it drastically reduces the problems caused by the overuse of private jets: Every time a private jet takes off or lands, other flights are delayed or have to wait. For some international trips, private jets are parked for days. The parking fees alone are considerable. When flying, the plane is often empty with only a few dozen passengers, which is incredibly wasteful.

Furthermore, there have been previous incidents where private jets were misused by passengers to carry cargo and personal belongings, causing negative public opinion.

Of course, the use of private jets cannot be abandoned, because there are trips of great significance in foreign relations, and the use of private jets is still very necessary. Especially during official, state visits, when the host country organizes a reception, if the leader travels by commercial plane, the reception would be inconvenient.

However, recognizing that private jet flights are "not economical," many heads of state from countries like Thailand and Singapore now frequently use commercial aircraft for their overseas trips, including state visits.

Therefore, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's decision to travel by commercial aircraft this time is appreciated and anticipated by the people as something that will create a new habit and a new precedent in limiting the use of private jets.

According to Dan Tri