With the conflict in Ukraine, do we already have an idea of the increase in the price of plane tickets?
Stephanie, 28 years old
Dear Reader,
It is difficult to precisely quantify the amount of the expected increase in ticket prices, resulting from the rise in the price of a barrel of oil.
It all depends, first of all, on the type of flight you are planning, short or long.
"The cost of fuel represents 35 to 45% of the price of a ticket for a long-haul flight, and 25 to 35% for a medium and short haul"
, specifies in
Figaro
Didier Bréchemier, senior partner at the firm Roland Berger, specialist in air Transport.
For example, if 30% of the price of a ticket corresponds to fuel and the cost of fuel is multiplied by two, passengers will pay for their flight only 15% more.
Or even less:
“Some companies will be able to choose to cushion the increase by reducing their margin
,” says Didier Bréchemier.
But not everyone can do it.
This will probably be the case for low-cost companies, whose margins are already thin.
Some, unable to absorb this price increase, will have to reduce their supply, such as the American Alaska Airlines, which has already announced that it is revising its capacity forecasts downwards.
Some companies could also choose to reduce their offer to concentrate on the most essential destinations, those which will attract passengers even in the event of a surge in prices.
The increase could also take several months to affect ticket prices.
"Some companies have subscribed to hedging (or
hedging)
with a bank, which undertakes to compensate for any fuel price increases for a given time, most often 6 to 9 months"
, explains Didier Bréchemier .
Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, easyJet or Ryanair use this system according to Air Journal.
Finally, remember that despite the sharp rise in recent weeks, the price of a barrel of oil, estimated at nearly $110 on March 11, 2022, has not reached an unprecedented level.
It remained around this threshold from 2011 to 2014.
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