Passengers paid less for economy airfares on Australia’s major routes in 2016 but first-quarter figures indicate they face “moderate” rises of 3 to 5 per cent this year, a new analysis has found.
The analysis by business travel consultants 4th Dimension, a unit of travel group Flight Centre, found the amount customers paid for corporate fares fell in 2016 by as much as 7 per cent on a basket of Australia’s top routes, while the amount paid by leisure travellers fell by as much as 10 per cent.
Exceptions for corporate travellers were Canberra-Sydney and Melbourne-Sydney , each up 4 per cent in 2016, while leisure travellers paid 1 per cent more for tickets on Melbourne-Sydney and prices on Melbourne-Perth stayed flat.
Business travellers flying economy from Brisbane to Melbourne or Brisbane to Perth enjoyed the biggest savings of 7 per cent. The biggest drops for leisure travellers were Brisbane-Sydney, down 10 per net on the previous year, as well as Hobart-Melbourne and Brisbane-Perth, both down 9 per cent.
Average economy fares paid by corporate passengers in 2016 ranged from $A295 one-way on Brisbane-Perth to $A133 on Adelaide-Melbourne. For leisure travellers, they ranged from $A255 on Brisbane Perth to $A93 on Canberra-Sydney.
But the good times are levelling off.
“Fare tracking conducted by 4D for first Quarter 2017 indicates a moderate increase of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent in domestic economy class fares across both the corporate and leisure buying groups,’’ the analysis said.
“Further to this, both the major Australian airlines introduced ‘Days of the Week’ fares late 2016, which has travellers on certain routes, with certain ticket types paying a higher price to fly on Thursday and Friday.”
On international routes, corporate passengers flying from Sydney to Shanghai were the big winners. They paid up to 27 per cent less ($A1231) for a return economy ticket while those flying Sydney-Los Angeles paid 16 per cent less ($A1581).
Economy class fares were lower on every route highlighted in the study with flights to Auckland registering the smallest falls of 1 to 3 per cent.
The situation was more complex in business class with several routes — Brisbane-Auckland, Sydney-Auckland, Brisbane-Singapore and Melbourne-Los Angeles – posting increases of between 3 and 7 per cent.
Travellers flying Perth-Singapore and Sydney-Shanghai were the big winners, paying 10 per cent and 17 per cent less, respectively.
Brand leader at 4th Dimension Felicity Burke said that the analysis of the Flight Centre sales showed that while published fares had risen, consumers were getting better at seeking out reduced fares.
For corporate customers, savings came from factors such as a greater use of online booking tools and an economic climate that encouraged people to opt for cheaper restricted fares.
“I just think everyone’s getting a lot smarter with their buying behaviour,’’ Burke said. “And they’re not nervous about buying a restricted fare.’’
