Fares jumped 54.5% compared to July 2021, on medium-haul flights departing from France for European destinations, which are very popular this summer.
This summer, vacationers who left by plane realized this: ticket prices have soared.
The data published this week by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) on air transport prices from France confirm this. In July 2022, the price increase compared to July 2021 was 43.5%, all destinations combined (19.3% cumulative since the start of the year). Compared to July 2019, the last year for which air transport was not affected by Covid-19, the price increase remains high (37.7%), observes the DGAC.
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It was on the medium-haul network, where traffic picked up most strongly, that the increase was most significant this year: 54.5% (+21% in total). The long-haul network, still affected by travel restrictions, posted a less pronounced increase of 28.8% (+ 13.3% cumulatively).
Cost inflation passed on
On the domestic network too, flight prices are up sharply: by 42.3% on intra-metropolitan connections, and by 20.7% on Metropolitan – Overseas connections.
Companies that have accumulated losses in recent months are boosting their cash. They pass on the inflation of costs, in particular of kerosene, the price of which has risen in one year from 75 dollars to 135 dollars a barrel. And they do it all the more easily as this does not discourage, for the moment, travelers, eager to travel after the health crisis.
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At the end of June, Air France had thus announced that a “fuel surcharge” ranging from 100 to 300 euros would apply to the highest fares. Airline bosses had warned at the end of 2021, through the mouth of Willie Walsh, the director general of Iata (International Air Transport Association): “Airlines have suffered huge losses in recent months. , it is therefore impossible for them to be able to absorb this increase in kerosene: it will have to be passed on to consumers and this will have an impact on prices. It remains to be seen what the attitude of travelers will be if the soaring prices continue in the coming months.
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