Anyone who has had to fly lately or is planning vacations repeats the same phrase: "traveling by plane is very expensive!". Ticket prices plummeted during covid but as soon as restrictions were lifted in 2022, they went up at full speed and the rally has barely let up since. The desire to travel after months of confinement, with a demand that does not decline despite prices, and the lower capacity that part of the airlines still carry form the cocktail of air inflation. The law of supply and demand is being fulfilled here to the letter.
A recent analysis by Eurocontrol puts concrete figures on the increase in prices perceived by passengers. The increase in the price of a plane ticket in Europe has been above general inflation since April 2022, with the sole exception of January of this year. Analyzing the Eurostat data, the peak occurred last July, when the cost of flights increased by 28.9% compared to 2021 (deflated), while inflation in the EU was at 9.8% –see attached graph– . In March 2023 – the latest data available – the interannual increase in the price of tickets reached 13.2%, with general inflation of 8.3%.
The CEO of the Ryanair group, Michael O'Leary, already said it a few months ago: the era of ultra-cheap flights is over.
The price increase does not only occur in the comparison with 2021 and 2022, when the market was still very affected by the pandemic. According to the latest airfare data from ForwardKeys, a Valencia-based company specializing in tourism intelligence, the average price of tickets for international travel between European destinations in the first quarter of 2023 increased by 20% compared to the same period. of 2019. Fares for trips from Spain to Europe experienced an increase of 22%, while from Europe to the US the increase was 6%.
Juan A. Gómez García, Head of Market Intelligence at ForwardKeys, points out that the lower increase in fares for intercontinental trips between America and Europe is a direct consequence of a greater availability of flights between both destinations than in 2019. "The increase of connectivity is key when it comes to keeping prices around inflation”, he comments. More and more destinations and routes are approaching pre-pandemic values –he continues– but the capacity for intra-European international trips during the first half of the year has not yet recovered the figures of 2019. Conclusion: we will have to get used to the high prices.
