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Flight prices to and from Canberra are set to remain high well into the New Year despite airlines putting on more flights and more domestic borders opening up to travellers, aviation experts say. After one of the most challenging years for the domestic aviation sector in Australia, easing coronavirus restrictions and reopened state borders have led to more flights being put on by the major airlines, however, levels are still way down compared to 2019 figures. Despite the additional flights being added by Qantas and Virgin as domestic travel expands, some one-way tickets to destinations such as Brisbane are as much as $1200 in the lead-up to Christmas and during early January. Chair emeritus of CAPA Centre for Aviation Peter Harbison said pent-up demand for travel throughout the year when borders were closed was now expected to increase the price of airfares even further as more people looked to get away during the Christmas and New Year period. “It’s been made more complicated because we’re going into the Christmas season and it’s the peak time when people are looking to take up travel,” Mr Harbison said. “It’s an opportunity where there is still a low level of supply and relatively high demand to push prices up. “On the other hand, airlines don’t want to be seen as taking advantage of a booming market.” Mr Harbison said Canberra’s normally high airfare prices put the capital at an even further disadvantage price wise, due to its lack of competition. “Canberra doesn’t have that many seats,” he said. “One of the things that airlines are way about is the borders closing again, but it seems as if in the short-term there is a lot of demand. “If the borders stay open, the next few months will see more capacity in the market.” It comes as regional airline Rex flagged it would be offering full-service flights between major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in order to compete with Qantas and Virgin. However, the airline’s deputy chair John Sharp said Canberra was not on the cards for Rex’s expansion in the immediate future “I can’t give a commitment to Canberra, but I can say that it is our intention to expand to other capital cities,” Mr Sharp said. “The expansion has always been something that has been in the back of the mind but the opportunity hasn’t presented itself until COVID. “We were always short of pilots and there was a shortage of airport space and all of a sudden there are now thousands of pilots and cabin crew and aircraft in the market.” Airlines such as Virgin have said with the reopening of borders it would reach 60 per cent of its pre-COVID domestic capacity with an extra 78,000 weekly seats up for sale between Victoria and New South Wales to Queensland. In the next week, Canberra Airport will increase its flight schedule to 160 flights a week, up 90 flights from the beginning of November. While some flight routes may still have high fares as more services were added to schedules, an airport spokeswoman said the key was to book early. “As travellers our lead time for booking travel has significantly reduced, but airlines are offering flexibility should border restrictions be imposed, so people should book with confidence,” the spokeswoman said. “We expect the number of flights will continue to increase as we enter the Christmas season and school holidays. “Our current passenger volumes are the highest we’ve experienced since March 2020.” Commissioner at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Sarah Court, said the pricing issue for airfares may become one of the bigger problems going forward. “It may emerge as we come out of the crisis and start to move around the country again,” she said. “I suspect it may take quite some time before flight capacity and flight numbers get back to pre-pandemic levels. “Where there is pent-up demand for travel, it’s not surprising prices are going to be higher than normal.”
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Flight prices to and from Canberra are set to remain high well into the New Year despite airlines putting on more flights and more domestic borders opening up to travellers, aviation experts say.
After one of the most challenging years for the domestic aviation sector in Australia, easing coronavirus restrictions and reopened state borders have led to more flights being put on by the major airlines, however, levels are still way down compared to 2019 figures.
Despite the additional flights being added by Qantas and Virgin as domestic travel expands, some one-way tickets to destinations such as Brisbane are as much as $1200 in the lead-up to Christmas and during early January.
Chair emeritus of CAPA Centre for Aviation Peter Harbison said pent-up demand for travel throughout the year when borders were closed was now expected to increase the price of airfares even further as more people looked to get away during the Christmas and New Year period.
“It’s been made more complicated because we’re going into the Christmas season and it’s the peak time when people are looking to take up travel,” Mr Harbison said.
“It’s an opportunity where there is still a low level of supply and relatively high demand to push prices up.
“On the other hand, airlines don’t want to be seen as taking advantage of a booming market.”
Mr Harbison said Canberra’s normally high airfare prices put the capital at an even further disadvantage price wise, due to its lack of competition.
“Canberra doesn’t have that many seats,” he said.
“One of the things that airlines are way about is the borders closing again, but it seems as if in the short-term there is a lot of demand.
“If the borders stay open, the next few months will see more capacity in the market.”
It comes as regional airline Rex flagged it would be offering full-service flights between major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in order to compete with Qantas and Virgin.
However, the airline’s deputy chair John Sharp said Canberra was not on the cards for Rex’s expansion in the immediate future
“I can’t give a commitment to Canberra, but I can say that it is our intention to expand to other capital cities,” Mr Sharp said.
“The expansion has always been something that has been in the back of the mind but the opportunity hasn’t presented itself until COVID.
“We were always short of pilots and there was a shortage of airport space and all of a sudden there are now thousands of pilots and cabin crew and aircraft in the market.”
Airlines such as Virgin have said with the reopening of borders it would reach 60 per cent of its pre-COVID domestic capacity with an extra 78,000 weekly seats up for sale between Victoria and New South Wales to Queensland.
In the next week, Canberra Airport will increase its flight schedule to 160 flights a week, up 90 flights from the beginning of November.
While some flight routes may still have high fares as more services were added to schedules, an airport spokeswoman said the key was to book early.
“As travellers our lead time for booking travel has significantly reduced, but airlines are offering flexibility should border restrictions be imposed, so people should book with confidence,” the spokeswoman said.
“We expect the number of flights will continue to increase as we enter the Christmas season and school holidays.
“Our current passenger volumes are the highest we’ve experienced since March 2020.”
Commissioner at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Sarah Court, said the pricing issue for airfares may become one of the bigger problems going forward.
“It may emerge as we come out of the crisis and start to move around the country again,” she said.
“I suspect it may take quite some time before flight capacity and flight numbers get back to pre-pandemic levels.
“Where there is pent-up demand for travel, it’s not surprising prices are going to be higher than normal.”
