Prices for air tickets to Europe and across Europe increase by 15-50% for summer trips, due to lower supply and incredibly high demand.
Michael O’LearyThe CEO of Ryanair, one of Europe’s largest airlines, said fares would rise by 15%, while travel booking site Kayak said flights between European and Australian destinations had increased by 50% for the summer holidays.
Michael O’Leary told cable that average prices in Europe would have risen by 20% in 2022 and that this summer he expected prices to rise again to roughly equivalent levels.
The reason for this is that there are fewer seats available to airlines than before the pandemic and everyone is looking to escape. This trend is called Revenge travel (Vengeance Journey), where people plan longer trips in the summer of 2023 to make up for the vacations they couldn’t take during the lockdown or last year, due to strikes and cancellations.
This situation has been exacerbated by the fact that some airlines have gone out of business (eg Flybe), others have canceled planned growth (Eurowings) and still others have not regained full capacity (eg ITA in Italy and TAP in Portugal, both operating in 50% of its capacity before the Kosovo crisis).
For anyone wanting to travel between Australia and European cities, the situation is even worse: from June to the end of September, the return trip costs $2,571. the guardian Reports that this represents a 46% increase Compared to the same period last year and A staggering 63% increase Compared to similar trips before the pandemic. Data from Kayak.com.au shows that Frankfurt is a slightly cheaper destination than Australia and Lisbon is the most expensive.
David Berman, a lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney who specializes in tourism, is not surprised by the large sums that airlines are asking for the same flight as before during the pandemic and companies could not make any money, so they used the minimum cash reserves they had. Now they have to charge a lot of money to make up for the lost two years of revenue.
Another factor is that many airlines used to sell many business class seats which allowed economy class passengers to pay less: one business class passenger can equal up to six or eight economy class passengers. However, since business class has not resumed since the pandemic, airlines must raise their fares for the average vacationer.
Since the cost of living crisis is currently affecting many people, this measure will put a lot of pressure on the average family wishing to escape. David Berman adds that vacations that were once affordable for middle-class families are now only available to the wealthier elite, people on essential trips or those who want or need to see loved ones. In Europe, a family of four can have to pay up to $125 for a plane ticket, which is a significant increase from last year.
If we add to this the cost of inflation in destination countries and the increase in the price of a cocktail due to the increase in alcohol and energy costs for the hotel, some people may have to completely rethink their summer vacation plans.
Translated article from Forbes US – Author: Alex Ledsom
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