Changes in prices deepened in transit routes

On January 4, the website of the Price Division of the National Development and Reform Commission, which had not been updated for two months, posted six price reform notices in one breath, including 24 goods and services in the areas of port competitive service charges and tobacco leaf purchase prices.

"Daily Economic News" reporter noted that out of the six notifications issued, three involved the transportation sector. There are rail transport, but also civil aviation transport.

Among them, according to the Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning the Further Improvement of the Civil Aviation Domestic Air Transport Pricing Policy issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the National Development and Reform Commission (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”), from December 15, 2014, the neighboring provinces were released. In addition, some of the 101 new routes were changed from the current government guidance price to the market adjustment price for some short-distance airline passenger transportation fares that compete with the main ground transportation methods.

In addition, for passengers transporting fares on other domestic routes that continue to implement government-guided prices, the former government approves route base fares for decentralization to airlines.

People in the industry believe that the areas that have been liberalized this time in the transportation sector are all areas where competition is relatively complete and there will be no significant changes in prices after liberalization. However, there are also some route fares that will have different levels of compensatory growth.

Part of the passenger line prices have been released

According to the National Development and Reform Commission, since the late November 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission has issued eight documents with related departments, opened 24 items of goods and services, and devolved a pricing authority.

In terms of railway transportation, the prices of four rail transport vehicles with competitive conditions were liberalized, including rail freight transportation, railway parcel transportation, and social capital investment holdings for new railroads and freight lines for passengers.

After releasing the price, railway transport enterprises can independently determine the specific transportation prices based on the production and operation costs, market supply and demand, and competition conditions and social affordability.

Zhao Jian, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, said that the railway's freight turnover rate is only 22%, and the vast majority of transportation needs can be met by roads, and there will be no problem of the sharp rise in the price of popular lines after the prices are released.

The 101 route prices are fully released

In recent years, with the improvement of the domestic high-speed rail network framework, many short-and medium-distance passenger routes have been diverted by high-speed rails. Compared with high-speed rail, civil aviation has seen shortcomings such as high prices and low punctuality rates.

In fact, as early as October 2014, the two departments issued the “Notice”, which had already announced the cancellation of the lower price limit for airline tickets on the government-guided route, and opened 31 competitive pricing routes to the market. The "Notice" was based on the original 101 new routes to implement market adjustment prices.

Industry insiders analyzed that the recent two price reforms meant that the state encourages the popularization of civil aviation travel and actively participates in the competition in the transportation market. In the past, the “8 yuan” and “9 yuan” tickets issued by low-cost airlines will become legal and reasonable without vicious competition. Suspected. "The implementation of self-regulating market for 101 routes is a good thing for low-cost airlines," said civil aviation expert Han Tao.

The reporter noticed that the 101 routes that opened passenger fares this time were all routes between neighboring provinces. Taking Guilin to Shenzhen as an example, the current full-fare airline ticket is 730 yuan, plus airport construction and fuel surcharges are 790 yuan, and the flight time is one hour and five minutes. After the opening of the high-speed rail, the fare for Guilin-Shenzhen high-speed railway second-class seat is 212 yuan, which only takes more than three hours. Airline passengers are subject to high-speed rail competition, and ticket prices have also been significantly reduced to around 200 yuan.

According to Cheng Xingyun, director of the Department of Transportation, National Development and Reform Commission's Price Division, the 101 short-distance air routes that were released across the province are basically below 600 kilometers, and they have formed quite ample competition with road passenger transport and railway passenger transport. It will help airlines participate in the competition.

Some route prices have risen

"Daily Economic News" reporter saw in the new policy that for passengers transporting fares on other domestic routes that continue to implement government-guided prices, the government approved the route base fares to be replaced by the airlines according to the "Civil Aviation Domestic Route Passenger Transport Standards Tickets." The Price Pricing Rules stipulates to set and adjust benchmark fares on its own. The airlines can continue to use the benchmark fares as their basis to determine their own fare levels within a floating range of no more than 25% and no limit. It also announced the pricing formula for the basic fare for passenger transport on domestic routes.

“This means that the airline can independently decide whether to reduce the base fare for passengers on domestic air routes and the time, scope, and range of price cuts according to the needs of production and operation as well as market supply and demand and competition. According to this fare adjustment rule, the highest for most air routes is. Sales fares will increase between 8% and 12%.” Yang Bo, a civil aviation expert, introduced the report to the “Daily Economic News” reporter. According to the domestic normal route formula of 2014, the calculation of the different distances from 900 to 3,000 kilometers is common in China. The benchmark fares of the routes, and comparison with 2004, found that in 2014, the newly issued domestic ordinary routes had different price adjustment ranges for different routes. The longer the voyage, the lower the increase, “the range of price adjustment for 900 kilometers can reach 18%. The 1,500-kilometer route is only 8%. The route that exceeds 2,000 kilometers is basically zero-growth.” According to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the vast majority of travelers on domestic routes travel in the 1200 to 1500-kilometer range. Therefore, domestic tourists will Faced with a slight increase in ticket prices.

The reporter was informed that at present, the airline has begun to adjust the benchmark price on some routes. For example, the full-price ticket for Guangzhou Feifei's benchmark price has risen by nearly one hundred yuan from around 1,700 yuan. The reporter learned from a large ticket agent in Chengdu that airlines including Air China, Sichuan Airlines, and Hainan Airlines have adjusted the base fares of some routes in the last month or so. For example, Chengdu’s flights to Guiyang are adjusted from 630 yuan to 690 yuan; Chengdu The original base fare for flying to Beijing was raised from 1,440 yuan to 1,580 yuan.

However, there are also airline professionals who believe that the new pricing policy has little impact, and competition in the aviation market is now heating up. As a result, discounted airline tickets for “cabbage price” in the economy class are often visible and have already exceeded the original lower price limit, so whether to purchase tickets or not It is hard to say whether the cost will rise.