Flights from Spain and other destinations to holiday destinations will increase by 50 percent this summer

Some airlines are already planning to raise their ticket prices for this summer due to the rising cost of fuel caused by the Iran War. 

The i Paper received information from experts that short-haul flights to European holiday destinations are on the rise. 

In a conversation with The i Paper, Saj Ahmad, Chief Analyst at StrategicAero Research, said: “If this conflict continues beyond March, I see EU airlines beginning to raise fares across-the-board in advance of summer season, as demand shifts away from the Middle East.” 

READ MORE: Little-known town on the Costa del Sol beats out everyone to the crown of ‘best climate in all of Europe’

Several airlines in Europe and beyond have increased their prices. 

Cathay Pacific Airways, Qantas Airways, Thai Airways, and Air New Zealand all took action. The latter cut 5% of their flights, approximately 1,100 trips through early May.

Typically airlines use hedging contracts to protect themselves from sudden jet fuel price rises but aviation experts are still saying that it is ‘very possible’ that continuous increases in oil prices will end up affecting the prices that passengers pay ‘everywhere’.

For Ryanair, however, the company’s hedged contracts will prevent rising oil prices from affecting their ‘low fares’ according to their chief executive Michael O’Leary. 

Richard Vilton said, “Even when the disruption is far away from UK, changes in airspace can still affect flights, forcing airlines to change flight times and reroute their flights.”

The impact on short-haul leisure destinations, such as Greece or Spain, is often indirect. Vilton said that airlines may change schedules, add buffers or redeploy their aircraft to maintain reliability.

READ MORE: Spain is poised for a new tourism boom after holidaymakers avoid other destinations because of Middle East conflict fears

While Vilton insists that airlines are doing all they can to ‘minimise disruption and reduce the inconvenience to passengers’, Skyscanner’s travel expert Laura Linsay has said that ‘we may see some carriers increase fares to offset increased costs’. 

She too however emphasised that ‘most airlines will do everything they can to price attractively to stay ahead of the competition’. 

Despite this, it appears that ticket prices will rise in the coming weeks. James Noel Beswick, Head of Commodities at market intelligence firm Sparta Commodities predicted a 30%- 50% increase to ticket costs when speaking to The i Paper.

Click here to learn more News The Olive Press