How much cheaper is flying today?

• London to Sydney

One example is the London to Sydney route. The downward spiral of the cost is spectacular. In 1945, the return airfare was the equivalent of 130 weeks’ average salary. This was a fortune by anyone’s standards and equivalent today to $204,000 Australian dollars for the average Australian worker. By 1965 with the widespread introduction of the Douglas DC-8 and Boeing 707, it had dropped to 21 weeks and with the Boeing 747 in the early 1970s that figure reduced to eight weeks. In 1991, it was equivalent to five weeks’ average salary for an Australian and in 2013 it accounts for just over one week’s average earnings. If the trend continues, analysts suggest that by 2020 the return airfare from Sydney to London will be just three days’ average earnings.