The matter in summary: • Flight prices are on the way down again, according to statistics from the Airfare Index.• The drop in prices is due to increased competition between the airlines, according to Ole Stouby, Executive Vice President of Travelmarket.• Prices have been artificially high, especially on intercontinental destinations, but have fallen continuously since 2022 .• Aviation analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs does not think prices will drop back to 2021 levels due to increased costs for the airlines.• Stouby believes, however, that the price drop will continue, as capacity increases and more companies come in and push prices down.• Both Stouby and Elnæs believes that demand has not been as high as the airlines expected. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. After skyrocketing flight ticket prices, it seems that flight prices are on the way back down. This shows statistics from the Airfare Index, which is prepared by the travel company Travelmarket. The index is based on an overview of the cheapest return air tickets to ten popular European and ten popular destinations on intercontinental routes. – Prices are falling because competition between the airlines has increased. That’s what Ole Stouby, Executive Vice President of Travelmarket says. Stouby believes that the weak krone exchange rate contributes to low demand. – Prices for accommodation, food and drink cost more than they did before. This contributes to the pressure on the market. But there is still a large part of the population that prioritizes travelling. Nevertheless, the airlines cannot have too expensive ticket prices. Then people will simply stop traveling. It was Flysmart24 that mentioned the matter first. CEO of Travelmarket Ole Stouby. Photo: ©hellesandersen.dk / ©hellesandersen.dk Artificially high prices In September 2021, record low plane ticket prices were reported. A ticket from Tromsø to Oslo could be bought for NOK 300. Prices then rose sharply again. Stouby believes that the prices have been artificially high, especially on the intercontinental destinations. – Since 2022, we have seen a continuous drop in prices. The capacity that we saw before the pandemic was not at all up to the mark in the post-pandemic period. Capacity is now starting to return to the level it was before the pandemic, says Stouby. – I think it’s interesting that you can get to various European destinations from Oslo and Stavanger, Trondheim and Bergen for less than a thousand Norwegian kroner. It is quite cheap, says Stouby. Photo: Tore Ellingseter / news Prices at certain destinations in Europe have also fallen, according to Stouby. – We are not quite where we were before the pandemic, but travel from Oslo is very close to the average price that was before the pandemic. These are the price examples for a number of European destinations in week 38: Oslo – London r/r at NOK 365 Oslo – Copenhagen r/r at NOK 827 Stavanger – London r/r at NOK 788 Oslo – Stockholm r/r at NOK 820 Trondheim – London t/r to NOK 873 Bergen – Berlin t/r to NOK 888 Right time to secure the autumn holidays Flight analyst and owner of Winair, Hans Jørgen Elnæs believes the background for the price drop is complex: – There has been a slightly weaker demand and willingness to pay. Elnæs believes the airlines expected that people were willing to pay more for flights this summer compared to last year. – The airlines use low prices to get demand started if they think it is a little too slow compared to what they had expected, says Elnæs. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news – The summer vacation is just over. The high season has gone tolerably well, but the airlines had perhaps hoped that flight prices would be even higher than they have been this summer. However, Elnæs believes now is the time to act if you’ve been thinking of going on holiday this autumn. – Now that the summer is in full swing, the autumn is coming and then it is very common for the airlines to try to get demand going again, says Elnæs and adds: – That there will be offers for flight tickets, which you and I and many others cannot manage to resist is not unusual. I myself ordered a return ticket between Oslo and Belgrade and it cost me well under NOK 2,000. It was damn good. The experts disagree with each other But how long will the price drop last? Here, the experts do not completely agree with each other. Aviation analyst Elnæs says the following: – I have little faith in the fact that this is a long-term, persistent trend of us going back to low ticket prices, which we have not seen before. He explains this by the fact that the costs for the airlines have been increasing all the way after the pandemic. Therefore, they cannot continue to sell such cheap tickets in the future. Stouby, on the other hand, believes the trend will continue. – I think we will see this trend continue because the capacity will increase. Norwegian is back in full swing and SAS is under pressure and has to lower the price. In addition, there are other companies that come in and push prices down. – Prices are pushed down to stimulate the market and get people to travel more. There is a lot of competition on the European routes and therefore you will see that the price drop continues in 2025. Published 31/08/2024, at 07.35 Updated 31.08.2024, at 08.06
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Experts believe that now is the time to book an autumn holiday – news Nordland
