With rising kerosene prices and a sharp increase in demand, airline ticket prices have risen 43.5% in one year in France, all routes combined, according to the latest figures, and the increase will continue in the coming weeks.
Ticket prices even rose 54.5% in July compared to July 2021 on medium-haul flights departing from France to European destinations, which are in high demand this summer, according to the air transport price index, updated daily each month by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC). The increase is less significant for long-haul international flights, with an increase of 28.8% in one year, routes still affected by certain traffic restrictions linked to the health situation, such as with Asia. Tour operators, for their part, confirm this upward trend in prices.
“There is a mechanical increase linked to the rise in the price of oil and inflation. And then there is a more recent phenomenon: late bookings. The later you book, the more expensive the ticket. However, the trend this summer was not to anticipate the holidays”, summarizes Jean-Pierre Mas, president of Travel Companies.
“Price rises are permanent”
This inflationary trend (+19.3% since the beginning of the year) is mainly explained by the increase in oil prices, which accelerated with the war in Ukraine, emphasizes Marc Ivaldi, a specialist in transport aerial view of the School of Studies Advanced in Social Sciences, Tolosa (EHESS). “The rise in oil and kerosene prices has had a direct impact on ticket prices,” he explains.
This progression also responds to the need for companies to “recover their accounts and increase their margins”, adds Bruno Gazeau, president of the National Federation of Transport Users Associations (Fnaut). “The rise in prices is permanent, both for low-cost companies and for conventional companies,” he says. It is also much more important than for the car and for the train”.
The end of discount tickets
But the rise in prices is also explained by the imbalance between the strong demand in the summer and the lack of supply in emblematic destinations, to which companies do not fly enough planes. “The pandemic was over, people wanted to massively resume their travel habits. But given the shortage of personnel at airports and on board planes, some companies, unable to meet demand, canceled flights, raising prices”, analyzes Marc Ivaldi.
Attendance at the two main airports in Paris, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly, in July recovered 86.3% of the level of July 2019, that is, 9.1 million passengers. Many tensions have arisen since the opening of the high summer season because several European airports are experiencing malfunctions, between lack of staff and social unrest, causing cancellations, delays or loss of luggage.
For now, according to experts, the price increases should continue in the coming weeks before falling in early autumn. “This trend will be confirmed a priori at least in August and, to a lesser extent, in September, although the situation remains very difficult to predict,” says Marc Ivaldi. On the part of Ryanair, a low-cost airline, it was already announced at the beginning of August that the era of plane tickets sold at 10 euros is, in any case, well over.
Source: BFM TV
