Air Travel Industry Marks Significant Improvement, But Budget Travellers Are Not Welcomed Anymore

Despite the fact that the tourism industry in countries worldwide is recovering from the profound damages caused by the spread of the Coronavirus, the latter led to significant changes to the aviation industry, and not all travellers will be welcomed anymore, especially budget travellers.

According to a report published by Fortune, neither airlines nor hotspots want their budget travellers back anymore, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

It has been reported that in the first three months of this year, travel demand increased by 182 per cent compared to the same period last year, based on the data provided by the UN World Tourism Organisation.

However, with the rising inflation in a large number of countries, which led to fuel costs soaring, the travel industry is backing only wealthy passengers in order to travel.

Recently, the CEO of Irish airline Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, stressed that there would be no more €10 ($10.33) flights following the current situation. He stressed that the era of cheap travel is over.

“We think that €40 needs to edge up towards maybe €50 over the next five years. So, the £35 average fare in the UK will rise to maybe £42 or £43,” he stressed.

O’Leary added that Ryanair is known for its low-price flash sales, but the current prices are thought to be unsustainable.

“There’s no doubt that at the lower end of the marketplace, our really cheap promotional fares, the €10 fares, the 99 cent fares, even the 9.99 fares, I think you will not see those fares for the next number of years,” he pointed out in this regard, according to the BBC.

The spread of the Coronavirus, as well as the rising inflation, has caused notable difficulties for the aviation industry, leading to significant labour shortages; thus, travellers being subject to flight cancellations and delays.

However, the recent statistics provided by the International Air Transport Association  (IATA) revealed that passenger demand remains strong, despite the difficulties mentioned above.

In addition, the figures provided by IATA revealed that recovery in air travel marked 76.2 per cent in June this year, compared to the figures of the same period last year.

At the same time, according to the figures provided by the European Statistical Office, Eurostat, the number of commercial flights last month reached 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, marking a significant improvement.

The same revealed that commercial flights in Greece surpassed 2019 levels by seven per cent, while in Iceland, the commercial flight levels were four per cent higher compared to pre-pandemic levels.