Due to rising fuel costs, Ryanair’s CEO has issued a warning that the budget airline’s signature one-euro and ten-euro flights won’t be available for “a period of years” – as hard-hit British tourists see the worst drop in living standards in 60 years.
As flight costs rise across the board, Michael O’Leary predicted that Ryanair’s average fare will increase by about 10 euros over the next five years, from about 40 euros (£33.75) last year to roughly 50 euros by 2027.
He also predicted that “many millions” of people will abandon carriers like British Airways and EasyJet.
He said, “I don’t believe there will be ten euro flights anymore since oil costs are much higher as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Our average ticket, which was 40 euros last year, will need to increase to 50 euros over the next five years, according to our estimates.
There’s no denying that for the foreseeable future, our really low promotional fares—the one euro, the 0.99 euro, and even the 9.99 euro fares—will not be available at the lower end of the market. We predict that individuals will keep taking frequent flights.
However, I believe that individuals will become much more price sensitive, and as a result, in my opinion, they will trade down from their many millions.
As Covid regulations were relaxed, Ryanair introduced £5 one-way tickets to many European cities in July of last year, including Athens in Greece, Lisbon and Faro in Portugal, Madrid and Seville in Spain, and Dublin in Ireland.
MailOnline has discovered that the most affordable flights from London Stansted to these places on August 18 are now far more expensive than this.
Currently, a one-way travel to Lisbon costs £130, compared to £189 for flights to Athens and Madrid. Even a trip from London Stansted to Dublin costs £149.
The least expensive option is a £60 flight to Faro.
According to recent information provided to MailOnline, the average airfare price based on searches for European flights leaving from the UK has increased by around a third since before Covid.
A single ticket now costs, on average, £588 and £456 from all London airports to Istanbul and Antalya in Turkey, up 62% and 44% this week from the same time last year.
Currently, the average flight to Larnaca costs £446 (up from £299), to Zurich in Switzerland costs around £380 (up from $178), and to Athens costs about £360 (up from $252 three years ago).
According to travel industry analysts, the price hike is the result of both escalating inflation and a rise in demand after the lifting of lockdown restrictions.
However, several airlines are finding it difficult to satisfy demand as a result of the protracted periods of flight cancellations, increased prices, and drastic employment cutbacks during the crisis.
Mr. O’Leary said that he had “very little compassion” for airports who were engulfed in pandemonium and claimed that they were aware of schedules months in advance.
He also charged Heathrow with “mismanagement” for limiting the amount of people arriving at the airport throughout the summer despite being one of the worst impacted airports.
People will become considerably more price conscious when it comes to electricity, the Ryanair CEO said.
You’re looking at inflation in the UK that is double digits; it affects practically everything the average family buys there, including food, rent, and not just energy.
Because wages and social welfare payments cannot keep up with inflation, history has shown us that when an inflationary era begins, it severely harms those with lower incomes.
The only way to have real wage growth, genuine growth in social welfare payments, a healthier economy, and a higher standard of living for your folks is to limit inflation.
Costs have increased everywhere, including at budget airlines like Wizz Air, which had previously issued a warning that ticket rates will increase by around 10% during the summer.
‘Flight costs are now sky-high, literally sky-high, due to pent-up demand following two years of Covid restrictions and individuals having saved a lot of money during lockdown,’ Paul Charles, CEO of travel consultant The PC Agency, told MailOnline.
For many individuals, this is their first vacation in a few years. They’ll want to get away from the depressing headlines about inflation and the cost of living problem, but they’ll also want to catch up with friends and relatives they haven’t seen in a while who live overseas. All of this demand raises the cost of goods.
Due to airline cancellations, there are now fewer flights available, which is contributing to some of this.
I wouldn’t anticipate costs to start dropping for a while yet, most likely not until the sales start in about October.
However, I would also advise that if you can travel and have saved money, you should still attempt to go overseas while you can.
A representative for the travel site Kayak said: “We’ve seen flight searches on Kayak exceed pre-pandemic levels throughout this year — clearly proving that people in the UK want to travel again.” Kayak provided some of the statistics with MailOnline.
But costs are rising as the sector struggles to keep up with demand. Recent weeks have witnessed an increase in average flight costs of roughly 30% based on searches for European flights from the UK.
As a result of “economic challenges,” Wizz Air has announced it would cancel the majority of its winter flights from Cardiff Airport.
From September 19, the low-cost carrier will no longer provide flights to nine well-known locations, citing the routes’ lack of financial viability.
Alicante, Corfu, Heraklion, Faro, Larnaca, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, Sharm el-Sheikh, and Tenerife are no longer destinations offered by the airline.
Its executives said that the choice was taken to limit any inconvenience to passengers, who would be notified via email if they are impacted.
Tickets holders will be given the choice of rebooking to travel this year as scheduled, but from London Gatwick or Luton Airport, or booking equivalent fares to travel from Cardiff next summer.
A full cash refund or an airline credit equal to 120% of the cost of the ticket will also be made available to customers.
Wizz Air announced that throughout the winter, there would still be flights to the Italian city of Milan and the Romanian capital Bucharest.
Beginning in October, tickets are available for those locations.
All other connections, however, will be cancelled up until April 2023, when the airline stated it would start expanding service out of Cardiff.
The only international airport in Wales will give its employees alternatives to work at other airports in the UK throughout the winter so they can return in the spring.
To provide 350,000 more annual seats to Cardiff Airport, the firm established a new base there in December 2020, resulting in the creation of 40 additional jobs.
It did, however, record increased losses of £381 million for the first quarter of this year, which it attributed to the impact of rising fuel prices and recent airport disruptions.
Rising demand and ticket prices, according to the statement, should guarantee a “substantial operational profit” in the second quarter.
Over the course of the summer, BA cancelled more than 30,000 flights, and additional flights were cancelled once Heathrow implemented a daily departure passenger quota of 100,000 last month.
It implies that passengers who had their initial flight cancelled are entitled to being re-booked on other services, and the action is taken to make sure there are enough seats to accommodate those who are impacted.
Those who are unable to rebook on a BA route will be eligible to a seat on a competing airline at a significant expense to the company.
It happens after Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye issued a warning that restrictions on holiday flights from European and UK airports may last through next summer.
“We’ve seen no change in airline behaviour toward ground handling,” Mr. Holland-Kaye told the Mail, “and unless something changes radically, we’re going to be in the same situation in six months, possibly even 12 months.”
Being the biggest airline at Heathrow, BA is disproportionately affected by the airport’s cap.
The industry as a whole will be impacted by BA’s move to halt sales, driving increasing costs for other airlines.
Nevertheless, it will assist in stabilising the carrier’s operations and lowering the danger of a disturbance brought on by overbooking.
After losing patience with hours of delays and “chaos,” travellers were seen on camera crawling through hatches in the luggage reclaim area at Manchester Airport, prompting BA to suspend sales of short-haul tickets.
According to a Swissport baggage handler undercover reporter working at Manchester Airport, passengers attempting to get air-side to access their luggage “happens all the time.”
They went on to state that it leads to “fights,” called the situation “f*****g pandemonium,” and blamed it on the fact that they “basically have no personnel.”
The Channel 4 Dispatches investigation also reveals how a whistle-blower claimed pilots with one low-cost airline felt under pressure to fly longer hours despite being exhausted.
While a UK Border Force official cautions that long lines at passport check would last longer than three hours if traveller numbers rise to pre-pandemic levels, given present staffing levels.
The startling disclosures follow months of chaos in which 1.7 million passengers travelling out of or into the UK had their flights cancelled within 48 hours.
Dispatches on Channel 4 also found that at Heathrow, physically taxing labour that would ordinarily be handled by two or more employees was carried out by lone handlers, with the circumstances during shifts beginning at 3am being characterised as “simply awful.”
In July, more than nine out of ten travellers waited in line for less than 30 minutes, according to the Home Office, which called the warning that lines at passport check may last up to three hours “false.”
Border Force “works diligently to ensure it has the required amount of resources to verify that passengers are complying with our requirements and to maintain border security as travel continues to expand,” according to a spokesperson. She stated that it had just hired 800 new employees.
During the pandemic, Swissport, the baggage-handling company used by many airlines, laid off more than half of its 6,000 baggage handlers.
Ministers have directed the vetting centre to give priority to airport staff in order to help fill the gaps more quickly. This is in an effort to speed up the counterterrorism and accreditation checks on new hires.
Swissport expressed regret for its “part in the disruption some people have experienced at Manchester Airport” to the programme.
We have hired more than 4,100 personnel since January in order to reduce delays for travellers, the statement said.
A Department of Transport (DfT) spokesman responded to the allegations by saying, “We’ve done everything within our power to support the aviation industry, including providing £8billion to protect jobs during the pandemic, but it’s now up to the sector itself to make passengers can get away on their well-deserved summer vacations.”
A temporary amnesty on airport slots was also implemented, according to the agency, to give airlines time to make advance reservations and avoid last-minute cancellations.
The DfT spokesman continued, “These measures are clearly effective as recent flight cancellations have returned to levels seen in 2019 as a result of the changes that are giving passengers more certainty.”
Swissport emphasised that delays were brought on by “disruption from multiple sources” and not just ground handlers in a statement to the Daily Mail.
It also stated that there had been a net 415 increase in headcount at Manchester Airport this year.
The company emphasised that it did not collaborate with airlines that had encountered delays at Heathrow or Gatwick.
Manchester Airport emphasised that the undercover filming was completed about a month ago after managing director Karen Smart quit in April as a result of weeks of traveller chaos.
According to the report, 95% of travellers cleared security during the first week of the school summer break.
Individual airlines are in charge of ground handling, including check-in and baggage, it was added.