An aviation expert has warned that Spain’s tourism industry could suffer because of massive rises in the cost of flights from England.
Speaking about the reported 42 percent rise in the cost of flights from the UK to Spain, Roma Andreu explained why airlines were raising their prices and the impact this could have.
He said that the price rises from budget airlines would “depend on supply and demand”. He added that several factors such as the price of fuel and higher operating costs were forcing airlines to increase prices.
Furthermore, Mr Andreu claimed that some planes ordered by the carriers were not arriving and they were having to subcontract some services to maintain the routes they wanted to keep.
Speaking to Cope, he claimed: “There is an underground war between the low-cost airlines to see who wins the game.”
Mr Andreu isn’t the only person to highlight the impact of the massive increase in prices for airlines, passengers and tourists.
Director of Marketing and Communication at Mabrian, a company which conducted research on the prices of flights into Europe, Carlos Cendra echoed Mr Andreu’s theory for the price rises.
He told the Majorca Daily Bulletin: “The increases in average flight prices we are observing reflects, on the one hand, the rising operational costs of airlines; as well as the growing demand to and from Spain for this summer season.”
Despite the massive rise in costs, Mr Cendra said there was “still room for adjustment” and that there could be some dynamic pricing as the summer progresses. This means prices could rise or fall for some routes depending on availability.
Outside of the UK, the chief executive of budget airline Michael O’Leary warned earlier this year about the impending rise in the cost of flying because of a lack of planes.
This, Mr O’Leary said, was in part because of aircraft manufacturer Boeing delaying the delivery of its new fleet of aircraft. The result is that fewer passengers could be able to travel with carriers such as Ryanair.
Originally, Ryanair estimated it would be able to carry 205million passengers for the financial year ending March 2025, but Mr O’Leary has poured cold water on that number.
Speaking to the press Mr O’Leary said: “With less aircraft, maybe we’ll have to bring that 205 million down towards 200 million passengers. It might be a scratch below 200 million, we just don’t know at this stage.
“That probably means that even our growth this year is going to be constrained in Europe, and I think that leads to a higher fare environment across Europe for summer 2024.”
He added: “Fares in summer 2024 are going to be up again on summer 2023. Our average airfares in summer 2023 rose 17 percent.
“We don’t think we’ll see that kind of double-digit fare increase this year. We’re doing our budgets based on a fare increase of 5-10 percent, which to me feels kind of reasonable.”
