Bargain airfares won’t last long as Brits snap up leisure trips

Sun-starved Brits are snapping up cut-price trips to Greece and Spain after the UK said it was working on a road map for restoring flights wiped out by the coronavirus crisis. Average fares for travel to the Mediterranean countries this summer are a maximum of 11% lower than in 2019, based on data for the first three days of this week, with steeper discounts available to Portugal, Italy and Turkey, according to analysis published Friday by flight search engine Skyscanner. The rush to book, unleashed after Britain unveiled plans to allow travel to resume as early as May 17, could lead to an increase in fares, depending on the pace at which airlines add seats and routes. Discount carrier EasyJet and the UK arm of tour operator TUI both reported a jump in holiday sales of at least 500% following Monday’s announcement. “We may see some price increases as demand returns,” said Hugh Aitken, Skyscanner’s VP for flights. “We expect prices to evolve as more clearer paths to recovery are charted out and network planners build in capacity and schedules to allow airlines to fly at scale.”<br/>