When high airfares will end in Australia: Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin, Bonza

The sky-high cost of domestic flights in Australia should return to 2019 levels by July this year according to the nation’s consumer watchdog, with the cost of overseas travel also set to fall. 

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Gina Cass-Gotlieb said domestic airfares were one of the services they would be closely watching as inflation and rising costs put pressure on household budgets.

The Covid-19 pandemic grounded most flights in 2020 but, when travel resumed, ticket prices soared far above their usual level as airlines struggled to get back up and running. 

Ms Cass-Gotlieb said as carriers add more domestic flights to their timetables and iron out their processes to avoid delays and cancellations, the cost of airfares should start to normalise.

‘We are hoping to see that (prices dropping) by the middle of the year, with a return to more normal levels of capacity,’ Ms Cass-Gotlieb told The Herald Sun. 

She said the pent up demand for travel was much stronger than airlines had anticipated and they did not retain the capacity to meet it.

‘We’re particularly keen to see that they keep increasing the capacity to be able to meet Australians’ interest to fly.’

If passenger capacity did not increase in the first half of this year, Ms Cass-Gotlieb said the ACCC would consider that anti-competitive behaviour which it would ‘take very seriously’.

The addition of a third airline Bonza (staff pictured) to compete with Virgin and Qantas on 19 routes should also drive down prices

New budget airline Bonza will fly a total of 17 routes including 13 from its base on the Sunshine Coast (pictured)

She said the addition of a third airline Bonza to compete with Virgin and Qantas on 19 routes would also drive down prices. 

The good news for those looking to go overseas is that international prices should start to come down soon, too. 

Over Christmas, some return economy airfares from Australia to London cost up to $6,000, putting the destination beyond the reach of most people.

But from March next year, the same route is available for less than $2,000 aboard carriers such as Qantas, Emirates, Etihad and Cathay Pacific. 

Over Christmas, some return economy airfares from Australia to London cost up to $6,000, putting it beyond the reach of most people. Pictured: Sydney Airport check-in queue

If you are prepared to put up with long stopovers and arrive in London a day-and-a-half after you left, a 35-hour journey with Virgin Atlantic, via Los Angeles, can be purchased for $1,365.

The reopening of China will also bring fares down as bigger airlines reduce their prices to compete with Chinese carriers operating between Australia and Europe.   

Qantas has hired more than 1,500 new staff between April and September last year, which will help operations get back to normal in the coming months. 

The carrier is also including more options. In December, Qantas added new routes from Brisbane to Tokyo, Melbourne to Dallas Fort Worth in Texas and Sydney to Korea’s capital Seoul.

Jetstar had also announced it will start direct flights between Sydney and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands from June.