Only a few years ago, you could fly between several Norwegian cities for NOK 300 one way. Now you are lucky if you grab promotional prices that are twice as expensive, and then you should also order well in advance. From 2021 to 2022, prices for Norwegian flights rose by 20 per cent on average, according to Statistics Norway’s (SSB) overview. The following year, growth almost doubled, with a whopping 38 per cent. The tourism industry in Norway is back where it was before the pandemic, says Avinor. But the airlines don’t enjoy the same as they did before. Photo: Tore Ellingseter – We have seen a general increase in prices in society, something that has also affected the airline industry, says Thomas Iversen to news. He is a senior legal advisor at the Consumer Council. The fact that aviation fuel has become more expensive after the war in Ukraine, and the krona has become weaker compared to other currencies, he believes will also keep prices high in the future. – In addition, the Flyr bankruptcy has resulted in us having one less airline in Norway. Less competition also contributed to higher prices. – Have lost seven years of growth The prediction a few years ago was that we would be at the same level as before the pandemic last year or this year. Economist Frode Steen at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) believes that 2026 or 2027 is more likely, since growth in air traffic is much slower than before. Frode Steen believes that Norwegian’s acquisition of Widerøe will probably not be positive for prices, but that it is still too early to say. Photo: Gunnar Sætra / news – Then we have lost seven years of growth, he says. – It is clear that it costs something, and we see that now, for example, when Avinor is struggling to get things going. Steen researches, among other things, the Norwegian economy and air travel at NHH in Bergen. Photo: Hallvard Lyssand But the expensive fuel, higher wages for employees and the generally high prices that airlines must deal with in 2024 do not explain the “strong price increase” we saw last year, according to Steen. – It is easy to explain 20 percent there, but it is very difficult to explain the rest. Fuel prices have gone up, but not that much despite everything. Wages have gone up like all wages have gone up. – That is a very large number. Then I think we have to look at other things, and then it is very tempting to say that this indicates that the competition is not as tough as it once was. As many tourists as before the pandemic The annual travel habits survey, i.e. the number showing how much we traveled during the year, will not be ready until a few months from now. But talk from Avinor tells us that people have not been intimidated by the price increase. In 2023, 49 million passengers traveled to and from their airports in Norway. This is 10 per cent more than in 2022. But the number of domestic trips only increased by 5 per cent. Several foreign tourists travel both into Norway and further inland. The picture shows visitors to a street market in Flåm. Photo: Sondre Dalaker / news These are mostly only due to the increase in visiting tourists, who filled many of the seats on domestic flights as well. – The number of visitors to Norway has increased throughout the year, and is now back to the level we saw before the pandemic, says CEO of Avinor, Abraham Foss, in a press release. Steen has also noticed this. Although 25 million passengers visited Oslo airport last year, this was still 12 per cent lower than in 2019. Photo: NTB – When the dollar exchange rate and the euro exchange rate are as they are, it is actually relatively cheaper to holiday in Norway than before, and then them. – This is good news for the Norwegian tourism industry. There is much worse news for those of us who want to travel out of the country. Plan your trip early Most of the air traffic in Avinor comes from and between the airports they call the “big four”: Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger. Of these, it was Bergen Airport Flesland that was closest to the passenger level in 2019: 6.3 million traveled to or from it in 2023, compared with 6.4 that time. Photo: Forbrukerrådet At about this time last year, flight analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs of Winair AS thought that the time for cheap plane tickets was over. Since then, the price increase has therefore doubled. Iversen in the Consumer Council recommends planning it well in advance, when you first go out and travel by plane. – It is clearly much more expensive to fly at weekends and in connection with the school holidays, when demand is highest, he says. – People who want to go out and fly should check prices well in advance, and try to be flexible on which days they travel.
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– Very difficult to explain – news Vestland
