BUSINESS CLASS AIR FARES
➜ BPP
Can somebody ‘in the know' explain the huge increases in business class long-haul fares. At the beginning of last year LHR-BKK for example was averaging about £2,100, now it's nearly double that. This is way above any measure of inflation or fuel cost hike. Club Europe fares have also risen but nowhere near as much. There also seems to be a ‘cartel' operating across the main carriers. Are they selling the seats at these prices or just testing the market?
➜ TOMOTLEY
I'm not in the know, but here's my guess…
■ Fuel is very expensive
■ So is everything else
■ Demand has come back strongly but supply hasn't – there are labour shortages to contend with, too.
■ Aircraft are still grounded, so supply is further constrained, leading to higher prices.
■ There's a backlog/shortage of new long-haul aircraft – the B747s were retired during Covid. So were the A380s, then they scrambled to bring them back.
■ As a result, the much-talked-about but rarely delivered ‘capacity discipline' that airline CEOs have always promised to help
