Rising Internationl Flight Fares to Europe from America

Most of the Europe is shut till June 15th. The American and other carriers which have plans to open up flights to Europe have increased their fares across all classes of travel. And, these are not nominal increases. Normally, you would expect an international flight ticket to Europe to range between USD 700 to 900 for return economy class travel. However, when the outbreak happened the prices of Delta tickets had slumped to about $300 economy return. But if the present air tickets prices are to go by, as per Delta Airlines ticket fares, these would be about $2200-2300 for economy return ticket. This is a sharp increase, about 3 times of the normal during pre-Covid times. When travelers are expecting airlines to cut down on fares to stimulate demand, this increase might come as a surprise for them. What is the rationale behind this?

Experts point out that this is not surprising. Airlines know very well that demand is not going to pick up anytime soon for the transatlantic flights. This is because Europe and America have both taken a huge brunt of the disease. Only those who have to travel due to an urgent need will be traveling. Secondly, the airlines will be operating with a maximum load factor of about 62% as the airlines will have to meet the requirements of social distancing and keep some seats empty. This is going to be a further drain unless prices of air tickets are raised. Under normal circumstances, the industry average for breaking even was at 77% of load factor. The aviation industry experts have stated that the airfares have to increase by about 50 percent on an average basis and variation could be large depending on the sectors of travel.