People queuing to catch a taxi at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport. VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY – As the Lunar New Year holidays draw to a close, demand for flights to HCM City has soared, with many routes sold out.

Lương Minh Khuê, from Hà Tĩnh Province, said she was looking to return to the city but could not afford a ticket.

Trần Nguyên Thanh, also in Hà Tĩnh, said that he had just bought three tickets to the city to work with a total cost of VNĐ18 million (US$780), nearly three times higher than usual.

Many other people who cannot buy plane tickets have to change their routes back to the city such as train or bus, but it is still very difficult to buy tickets.

Many people had to postpone the date of return or ask for more time off.

Nguyễn Phương Hồng, from Đà Nẵng City, said she had to apply for an unpaid two days leave at her company, switched to flying on February 8 with a ticket price of only VNĐ2.5 million (US$108), less than that of February 6 or 7.

Similarly, many other routes from Thừa Thiên - Huế and Lâm Đồng to HCM City also no longer have tickets for the last two days of the Lunar New Year holiday.

For the Hà Nội - HCM City route, only business class tickets are available, but the price is very high. Vietnam Airlines is selling business class tickets with prices from VNĐ9.6 million, many times higher than on normal days.

The increased demand also caused overloading of passengers at Tân Sơn Nhất airport.

Many passengers said it is difficult to catch a taxi from the airport to go home, while the price is also very high, many times higher than usual.

Trần Nuyên Vũ, from Thủ Đức District, said his family flew from Chu Lai Airport in Quảng Nam Province to HCM City on February 5, but it took an hour to catch a taxi, and at a very high price.

On Saturday, Tân Sơn Nhất Airport served more than 25,700 departures and over 66,500 arrivals. This number is much higher than the days before the Lunar New Year. – VNS