News Forum - Post-pandemic airfares to remain high amid travel surge

[Thaiger]

Despite a slight relief due to declining jet fuel prices and increased flight capacity, airfares are expected to remain high in the post-pandemic travel surge and are unlikely to revert to pre-pandemic levels soon. AirAsia Aviation’s CEO Bo Lingam spoke on the changes in travelling patterns post-pandemic in an interview. “[The aircraft] load factor is … …

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[23RD]

The Airlines making up for their losses during Covid by passing it on to the consumer. 

[ChrisS]

"Despite a slight relief due to declining jet fuel prices and increased flight capacity, airfares are expected to remain high in the post-pandemic travel surge and are unlikely to revert to pre-pandemic levels soon"

Of course not, having got the airfares high the airlines have no doubt agreed to a nice bit of price fixing between themselves to keep them high and drive up their profits!

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

 

Prices set to drop for flights to Australia from NZ as airline competition heats up …. Maybe not enough competition for flights to Thailand? 

 

[Vigo]

Operating costs for airlines including labour have increased 20%+ and this has had an impact on pricing. A major factor in the airfares is the ongoing limitation of access to mainland China hubs. Prior to Covid, on any given day, multiple flights from Europe and North America went to China, connecting on to Asia Pacific. As of Covid, the number of flights significantly reduced. Even after Covid, China has not allowed the  frequencies to increase,  and western airlines do not want the price pressure the Chinese capacity would bring. Also, consumers soured on the Chinese airport transfer experience.  Until the Chinese route capacity returns, there will be little market pressure to reduce airfares.

 

[Pinetree]

I can only speak of my ex employer. Covid gave them the opportunity to return, or sell. their B744F fleet of 8 jets and replace them with brand new B747F- 800s. They also returned all their leased B777-200s and replaced them with B787s and a couple of new B777-300ERs.  They also ordered the new B777X, yet to be released to service.  Now, post covid, guess who is paying for all these changes?  Not a hard question to answer. 

[Ramanathan.P]

With the availablity of on-line meeting platforms, bussiness travel has been considerably reduced globally. This also have an impact on the travel plans for the business community which have an impact on the airline industry. Further many are going for local vacation and on-land journey in view of the cost constrains which again reduced the air travel. 

[Pinetree]

4 hours ago, Ramanathan.P said:

With the availablity of on-line meeting platforms, bussiness travel has been considerably reduced globally. This also have an impact on the travel plans for the business community which have an impact on the airline industry. Further many are going for local vacation and on-land journey in view of the cost constrains which again reduced the air travel. 

I'm not sure that there is much hard statistical evidence to support your comments.  

[Ramanathan.P]

2 minutes ago, Pinetree said:

I'm not sure that there is much hard statistical evidence to support your comments.  

Yes, there is not much statistics on this. However this is the industry insider info as most of the multinatioals in this region have stopped or put rigid measures when coming to travel approvals for business. It went to the extent that the top executive committee needs to approve any such travel for business even if it is regional or local with justifications for the travel, especially after pandemic. 

[johng]

7 hours ago, Pinetree said:

guess who is paying for all these changes?

The customers...part of the greatest wealth transfer in history.

[Pinetree]

36 minutes ago, johng said:

The customers...part of the greatest wealth transfer in history.

Not so.  Where would the World and humanity be if the airlines did not exist or,  were not prepared to invest (risk)  heavily in the technology of flight.  With the cost of a new B777=300 ER at circa $375 Million and my old airline having near 100 aircraft on their books, its a very costly and risky business.  To be honest I am surprised at the relative cheapness of air travel, especially long haul. 

[Marc26]

16 hours ago, Vigo said:

Operating costs for airlines including labour have increased 20%+ and this has had an impact on pricing. A major factor in the airfares is the ongoing limitation of access to mainland China hubs. Prior to Covid, on any given day, multiple flights from Europe and North America went to China, connecting on to Asia Pacific. As of Covid, the number of flights significantly reduced. Even after Covid, China has not allowed the  frequencies to increase,  and western airlines do not want the price pressure the Chinese capacity would bring. Also, consumers soured on the Chinese airport transfer experience.  Until the Chinese route capacity returns, there will be little market pressure to reduce airfares.

Bingo 

 

We had China Eastern and China Southern connections in Mainland China to Bangkok 

 

They were dirt cheap and they never came back so all the other Airlines don't have to compete with their fares 

 

Not that they matched their fares but they were lower because of them 

[Marc26]

We finally have throw in the towel and aren't returning to Thailand for at least 3 years

The airfares are just too steep

 

We are going to go to Mexico or Hawaii for a little bit where we can fly direct on sales for $400cad return vs the $1500-2k we been paying for Thailand the last few years