Air travel chaos in Europe could be over — but higher ticket prices are here to stay
Travelers to and within Europe this year should be able to avoid the levels of disruption experienced during last year’s summer of chaos, but higher ticket prices look set to stay. The aviation industry was left in disarray last summer as it struggled to ramp up operations after the sudden closures — and subsequent redundancies — triggered by Covid-19 lockdowns. A number of European airlines limited ticket sales, canceled flights, and adjusted timetables, as airports imposed passenger traffic caps. But the unique circumstances of last year’s travel chaos are “largely behind us,” according to Airports Council International (ACI). Heathrow Airport, Europe’s largest airport by passenger volume, said it is “well prepared to serve demand over the summer peak” this year. While Gatwick Airport, the U.K.’s second-largest, told CNBC via email that it’s “not anticipating the same issues airports encountered last summer.” “Airports have gone to extraordinary lengths this year to coordinate and plan all the many different operations present at an airport — to do … everything they can to minimize any disruption for passengers,” the ACI organization of airport authorities told CNBC via email. Travel is seen 'much more as a necessity' now than a luxury, says Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary. Overall European air passenger traffic is currently 7.6% lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to the organization’s data, although five European markets — Turkey, Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece and Albania — have fully recovered to their 2019 traffic figures. Air navigation safety organization Eurocontrol said that it was preparing for high levels of traffic this summer, noting that daily flights through European airspace were now at their highest level since the start of the pandemic. Popular destinations, however, “are always susceptible to unforeseen perturbation,” it added, including from weather and industrial action, which can impact air traffic flow management. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-07-05/general/air-travel-chaos-in-europe-could-be-over-2014-but-higher-ticket-prices-are-here-to-stay
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Air travel chaos in Europe could be over — but higher ticket prices are here to stay
Travelers to and within Europe this year should be able to avoid the levels of disruption experienced during last year’s summer of chaos, but higher ticket prices look set to stay. The aviation industry was left in disarray last summer as it struggled to ramp up operations after the sudden closures — and subsequent redundancies — triggered by Covid-19 lockdowns. A number of European airlines limited ticket sales, canceled flights, and adjusted timetables, as airports imposed passenger traffic caps. But the unique circumstances of last year’s travel chaos are “largely behind us,” according to Airports Council International (ACI). Heathrow Airport, Europe’s largest airport by passenger volume, said it is “well prepared to serve demand over the summer peak” this year. While Gatwick Airport, the U.K.’s second-largest, told CNBC via email that it’s “not anticipating the same issues airports encountered last summer.” “Airports have gone to extraordinary lengths this year to coordinate and plan all the many different operations present at an airport — to do … everything they can to minimize any disruption for passengers,” the ACI organization of airport authorities told CNBC via email. Travel is seen 'much more as a necessity' now than a luxury, says Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary. Overall European air passenger traffic is currently 7.6% lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to the organization’s data, although five European markets — Turkey, Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece and Albania — have fully recovered to their 2019 traffic figures. Air navigation safety organization Eurocontrol said that it was preparing for high levels of traffic this summer, noting that daily flights through European airspace were now at their highest level since the start of the pandemic. Popular destinations, however, “are always susceptible to unforeseen perturbation,” it added, including from weather and industrial action, which can impact air traffic flow management. <br/>
