Plane tickets have been increasing from the beginning of the year, partly because of the high demand after the pandemic and partly because the rising fuel cost. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has repeatedly made it clear that plane tickets will undoubtably get more expensive since the low cost business model is no longer sustainable.
Following O’Leary’s statements that Ryanair will increase prices, data and analytics company GlobalData says this will have a great impact on the accessibility to international travel. “When it comes to the pressures on international travel, it appears that the cost-of-living crisis is going to pick up where the pandemic left off—with domestic travel numbers booming, but foreign travel under the pressure of hundreds of cancellations”, Thematic Analyst Benedict Bradley says.
Budget airlines such as Ryanair have enabled more and more people to travel abroad. However, the rising ticket prices will only compound the current cost-of-living crisis, and those already struggling could be priced out of the travel market.
Benedict Bradley, Thematic Analyst at GlobalData
Bradley also believes that the price increase will indeed be insignificant for some, but others will have to reconsider their holiday plans in the coming years. “According to GlobalData’s forecast, UK international travel numbers will surpass pre-Covid levels by 2024, but rising ticket prices put this in jeopardy. When asked in GlobalData’s Q2 2022 consumer survey, 66% of UK respondents said they were either extremely or slightly concerned with the impact of inflation on their household budget. Travel may be the first thing to go to ease these cost-of-living problems”, he adds.
“Weekend breaks abroad may become unfeasible as people pinch pennies to pay off sky-rocketing energy bills”, Bradley says. His colleague, Keir Maclean, suggests that people may switch to less frequent, but longer holidays to reduce their overall expenditure on flights.
Maclean attributes the rise of ticket fares to the “dramatic increase in fuel costs”. “Since the beginning of 2022, the price of jet fuel has risen by 90%. Ryanair is the first budget airline to publicly declare the end of super low-cost flights. However, fuel price inflation is not exclusive to Ryanair and will drive up overhead costs across the industry, negatively impacting not just Ryanair but competitors such as EasyJet and Wizz Air. This is not good news for holidaymakers”, the analyst explains.
