It’s low cost airline flight rates at the origin ofincrease in average prices for routes to Spain from its five main markets of origin and to the five destinations preferred by Spanish travellers. They are up 26% and 27% respectively. This is what emerges from aMabrian analysisthe global travel intelligence company.
The biggest increase is on low cost
In practice, the fares on low cost airline routes, which currently represent 68.5% of the number of seats available on flights to and from Spain, are pushing up flight prices for the summer season. Although i average prices on conventional airlines continue to be higher, theprice increase And greater on airlines low cost: This represents a change in the global trend seen between 2021 and 2023, when legacy carrier fares grew 40%, while low-cost carriers did the same. to 6%, increasing the prices of airline tickets.
The data corresponds to the interannual variation in prices published for flights between 1 June and 15 September 2024, both for flights to Spain from its five main source markets by air capacity (UK, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands), and for the five destinations preferred by Spanish travelers (Portugal, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Germany). Overall, flight fares from Spain’s top five source markets increased by 26% and 27% for flights to Spain’s preferred destinations.
The low cost quota in Spain
The relevance of share of low cost companies for the Spanish market and its impact on prices are reflected in Mabrian’s data. Low cost air capacity therefore represents the 68.5% of the totalthat is to say 37.61 million seats, compared to the 17.33 million operated by conventional airlines, and is also growing faster. Compared to 2023, the total number of airline seats managed by low-cost airlines in the Spanish market increased by 11.1% (4.1% in the case of conventional airlines). Since 2019, the increase has been 8.9% (9.3% in traditional carriers).
United Kingdom: Rates increase more
Of the five inbound markets analysed, prices decreased in only two compared to the previous year: Italy (-5.4%, average price: 105 euros) and France (-6.8%, average price: 124 euros). Rates increased in the United Kingdom (+31.3%), the market that grew the most, with an average price of 210 euros; in Germany (+5.1%, average price: 187 euros), and in the Netherlands (+7.3%, average price: 176 euros).
Low cost airline flights are driving the price increase in the United Kingdom (+42.2%, with an average price of 182 euros, +11.3% on conventional airlines), and also in Germany (+12.4% to 163 euros, compared to the 0.4% decrease in average fares of conventional airlines). The Netherlands is the only market studied where the average prices of both conventional airlines (10.4%, €255) and low-cost airlines (7.4%, €146) are growing. In the cases of Italy and France, despite the average fares increasing in low cost seats (+18.3% and +19.5%, respectively), the decrease in prices on Italian regular lines of 39.3% and 13.1 % in the French ones, pushes the average rates downwards.
As for the flights departing from Spanish airports, the prices of low-cost seats for the United Kingdom, Germany and France are behind the increases of +30.4%, +5.3% and +0.8% in these markets. Fare increases are particularly notable on low-cost routes to the UK (+38.4%), France (+22.2%) and Germany (+12.3%).
Spain-Italy connectivity
In Italy, however, despite the increase in +19.5% of the average prices of low cost flightsthe reduction of -37.1% of the average prices of legacy airlines lower by -1.9% average connectivity rates between Spain and Italy.
Only in the case of flights to Portugal, one of the Spaniards’ favorite travel destinations, did fares increase by +4.5%, reflecting both the increase by traditional companies (+1.5%, 138 euros) and of low cost (+10.5%, 84 euros).
There is room for adjustment
“The increase in average flight prices that we are observing reflects, on the one hand, theincrease in operating costs of airlines – he explains Carlos Cendra Cruz, marketing and communications director of Mabrian – on the other, the growing demand to and from Spain for this summer season. There is still room for an adjustment of these fares on these traditionally summer routes, as it concerns dynamic pricing which will vary in the coming weeks, responding to the behavior of demand”.
Tags: Mabrian
