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In this article, I want to articulate my thoughts and write them down on the topic of fuel-efficient aircraft vs. fuel-efficient prices, and I’d love to hear your comments.
In This Post
My thoughts:
Over the past couple of years and decades, the airline industry has focused solely on reinventing airplanes, making them cheaper to run and maintain and, ultimately, more affordable for passengers to buy tickets.
We went from Boeing 707 to the long overdue 777-9, and as far as Airbus goes, we went from the A300 to the swanky A350.
We saw airlines from all over the globe retiring older model aircraft, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines placed huge orders to modernise their fleet and reduce costs.
Yet, in a world where technological advancements have enabled such remarkable progress, a pressing question remains: how does this progress align with the promise of affordable air travel for passengers?
Why are the prices for tickets, especially premium fares, still continuing to climb? Has all this work been in vain?
Indeed, who doesn’t appreciate a nice new, quieter and more fuel-efficient aircraft than previous models? So why are we still seeing such skyrocketing prices for air travel?
Some people argue that technically speaking, the prices for airfare have come down. It’s just that the airport taxes have gone up so high, and that’s what you’re paying, in all fairness. That still needs to be better because, at the bottom line, customers are still out of pocket now more than ever before. We’ve even seen airlines such as Wizz Air expand on the ever-so-successful MultiPass flight subscription pass, trying to help frequent travellers bring down the cost of travel, but there’s always some hike.
We’ve seen points redemption tickets devalue overnight and APD taxes go up. These changes have left many of us disappointed in a system that is working against us.
What is actually going on? Many of us ask this question as we try to make sense of an industry moving in a direction that’s not in our favour.
Conclusion:
This isn’t just a rant; it’s something I’ve seriously been thinking about over the past couple of weeks, and I can’t seem to make heads or tails of it. So, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, so please drop your comment below, and let’s talk.
