Vacations are getting more expensive: this is how the airlines trick us Israel today

The tourism and aviation industry has been in the headlines quite a bit in the last three years, mainly in the context of Corona, closed countries and various procedures.

In recent months, the planes returned to take off, the world's airports filled up and the demand for flights soared.

The airlines, which experienced a difficult crisis during the Corona period, saw the demand - and the prices of the flights soared.

In a comprehensive review we conducted of the prices of the direct flights of the airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia, huge gaps were discovered between the average prices in 2019, before the outbreak of the corona virus, and the situation today - at least in regards to the favorite destinations of Israelis: Bangkok, Paris, London, Rome, New York, Budapest and Berlin.

For example, El Al flights to London have become more expensive by 197% since 2019 - the sharpest jump in the "Israel Today" investigation (see details in the table): if in December 2019 the price of a ticket to the English capital was $345 - in December 2022 it will already cost $681.

The same goes for Paris: the price of an El Al flight to the City of Lights in 2019 was $299, and since then it has increased by 186% to $555.

Bishrair also saw a significant jump in prices.

While in 2019 a ticket to Rome cost $210, today to visit the Colosseum you need to reserve $319 - a gap of 152% in three years.

The same is true for the company's flights to Budapest: from $259 in 2019, the price of the ticket to it increased by 125%, and today it stands at $323.

We found lower differences in the prices of two aerial flights that were tested.

The company's direct flights to Tbilisi increased by 117% to $351 per ticket, compared to $299 in December 2019. Flights to Barcelona also became more expensive: the flight to the second largest city in Spain, which three years ago cost $412, has since become more expensive by 121%, and today it is required to pay 497 dollars for her.

It is important to note: although the prices of jet fuel have increased in recent years, at the same time the reported profits of El Al and Israir have increased greatly.

Bal Al recently reported a net profit of $67 million in the third quarter of 2022 (including a one-time profit of about $38 million) - for the first time since the outbreak of the Corona crisis - while Bishrair's profits reached a record of $18 million in the first nine months of the year .

Arkia does not report its profits because it is not traded, but according to reports it is on the verge of entering the stock market.

The cheapest ticket to Berlin under review, Brandenburg Gate, Berlin (for illustration), photo: Reuters

Prices will only go up

Officials at the Airports Authority and the Ministry of Transportation recently warned Israel Hayom several times that the situation at Ben-Gurion Airport is not good, and that the congestion there is expected to continue.

Although the congestion is not pleasant for many of the passengers, it has additional meanings that we may all feel in the end also in the prices of the flights.

The supply of flights from and to Israel is mainly limited to the volume that Israel can accommodate, mainly because Sde Ramon is too far away and is not an alternative for the majority of travelers in the country. Just last summer, requests for 8,000 air movements to and from Israel were rejected, due to the difficulty of accommodating the amount of flights in Israel, and It is estimated that these numbers will only continue to grow.

The main reason why the number of flights that will be able to take off and land in Israel will not change is that it has not yet been decided where the complementary airport to Israel will be built - and even when it is decided, it will take years for it to be built and put into operation.

From $555 to $1,002 in three years, a jump in ticket prices to Bangkok (for illustration), photo: GettyImages

A senior official in the aviation industry told Israel Hayom: "Bergwe is very close to its peak capacity, and when there is an equation of very high demand versus very limited supply - not only will it be difficult to get plane tickets, but they will be very expensive."

According to him, "This will not be a global phenomenon, it will happen here because the decision makers delayed too much with the opening of another airport, and now the airport serves a huge amount of flights from all over the country."

No response was received from the airlines mentioned in the article until the closing date of the issue.

were we wrong

We will fix it!

If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us