Coinciding with the end of mobility restrictions due to the coronavirus, air traffic has skyrocketed this summer and, consequently, prices have also risen.
The average price of the ticket applied by European airlines has risen by 30%, although in the case of low-cost airlines, the increase has been up to 50%, according to a study carried out by Wise, a financial technology firm specialized in online payments.
After these spectacular rises, the debate now is whether it is a post-pandemic conjunctural phenomenon or the end of cheap flights and the return to a
status quo
as was the case until the 1990s when the plane was reserved for executives. corporate and wealthy people.
The airlines that have increased their prices the most are Scandinavian Airlines, with an increase of 81.5%, followed by Air France (63.5%), Iberia (57.8%) and Air Europa (54.7%), while that Aer Lingus (5.6%), Iberia Express (19.4%) and KLM (21.5%) are the ones that have succumbed the least to increases.
The analysis carried out by Wise of the variation in average spending compared to 2021 of more than 130,000 purchase tickets in 17 European airlines, by consumers from 30 countries on the European continent, from May to July.
Not even low-cost airlines have been spared from this price escalation.
For example, Ryanair, the leading airline in Spain by number of passengers, increased its prices by 50.1% while the IAG group, to which Iberia also belongs, did so by 43.6%.
Of this group, the ones that increased the rates the least were the aforementioned Iberia Express (19.4%) and EasyJet (28.5%), according to the Wise study.
The report broadly coincides with other studies such as that of the travel search engine Kiwi.com, which concludes that the price of air tickets in Spain increased by 45% in July and 40% in the rest of the continent.
For August, it estimates an additional increase of 13% compared to the average registered in July;
while in September and October, once the summer season is over, the price will fall by 27.5%.
For its part, the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) indicate that airlines operating in Spain increased the price of tickets to fly abroad by 21.6% in July compared to a year earlier, the highest increase since 2018. However, it must be taken into account that since the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, a negative streak of downward prices began that lasted 21 months, and that was only broken in December 2021. For their part, national banknotes also rose in July, although more gently.
They did so by 1.7%, the same percentage as in June, and have been on the rise for four months, after having also fallen almost continuously since August 2020.
The 'low cost' will survive even if some of its brands fall
This notable increase in prices has put on the table the debate on whether we are facing the end of cheap flights, although experts point out that it is still early to reach this conclusion.
And it is that in the notable increase in the cost of air tickets several extraordinary factors have influenced.
In the first place, the end of the pandemic and the explosion of an embalmed demand after almost two years locked up that has caused a certain traveling fury in citizens, pushing prices up.
The increase in the cost of fuel has also weighed, and the problems derived from the shortage of personnel at airports and, above all, in airlines, after the job disbandment suffered during the pandemic, which airlines have not had time to replace.
As the offer of seats and routes is reduced,
the few places available have caused prices to skyrocket, and that is the reason why airlines such as Lufthansa, SAS, Air France or Iberia itself are at the forefront of the increases.
Nor has it been immune to the inflationary escalation of flights, the wave of strikes such as those suffered in Spain by EasyJet, Iberia Express or Ryanair travelers.
Other analysts point out that, if a recession arrives in the fall, as almost all the macroeconomic figures point out, companies will have no choice but to look for
low-cost
formulas to maintain employment and governments, especially the Spanish one, to relax “predatory” taxation environment” if they want to preserve the arrival of tourists, the first chapter of the Spanish gross domestic product and the basis of the economy of the Balearic or Canary Islands.
Of course, many companies will fall by the wayside and only those with the greatest financial strength will survive.
It must be remembered that the Government of Pedro Sánchez has had to come to the rescue of Air Europa, Air Nostrum, Volotea and Plus Ultra and that Iberia itself has received loans guaranteed by the Official Credit Institute (ICO) for 750 million euros.
Given this uncertainty, the repeated statements made this summer by Ryanair's CEO, Michael O'Leary, take on more value, warning that, although the rise in fuel prices will bring about the end of the era of "very cheap" tickets and "promotional fares", it will not end the
low cost
.
"We will not see them again for several years," he said, referring to the prices of between 1 and 10 euros per trip that the Irish company has popularized over the last two decades.
According to O'Leary, Ryanair's average airfare will increase by around €10 over the next five years, from €40 last year to €50 in 2027. really cheap promotional offers, tickets at 1 euro, 99 cents or 9.99 euros”, pointed out the apostle of low-cost flights.
Although he attributes this change to the rise in energy prices, which also affects the purchasing power of citizens, he is confident that the number of passengers will remain stable.
In this context, O'Leary believes that consumers "will flock" to budget airlines such as Ryanair or EasyJet itself.
“I think people will continue to fly frequently.
But I think they will look much more at prices and, consequently, millions of users will switch (to low-cost airlines) ”, emphasizes O'Leary.
