Travellers can continue to expect to find cheap flights on the market, despite struggling airlines, an industry expert has claimed.
Passengers have become so used to cheap flights that airlines will struggle to raise their prices, an aviation specialist has predicted.
David Henderson, spokesperson for the Association of European Airlines (AEA), commented: “The market has got used to fares at a much lower level. We don’t think the airlines will be able to put their fares back to where they were.”
He said that, while this is bad news for carriers, it signals the continuation of cheap airfares for tourists.
Research released earlier this month by ITB Berlin found that the European travel market experienced eight per cent fewer arrivals during the first eight months of 2009, compared with the equivalent time in 2008.
Outbound trips made by Europeans also fell by seven per cent over the same time period.
However, data published by the UK Office for National Statistics found that holiday visits to Britain increased by one per cent over the first three quarters of this year, compared with 2008.
Written by Alex Cochrane
