Despite the fact that airfare prices are rising against the backdrop of the falling ruble exchange rate and the coronavirus situation, according to experts from the Biletix service, the average cost of flights abroad is still lower than a year earlier.
“Based on our observations, we note a clear correlation between the cost of air tickets to international destinations and the Russian ruble exchange rate. This is due to the fact that mutual settlements between participants in the aviation market occur at the internal rate of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is tied to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation rate on the Russian market. Since the exchange rate changes weekly at night (00.00) from Tuesday to Wednesday, on March 11 we expect a corresponding increase in the average cost of air tickets to international destinations," the company told the TRN portal.
They also noted that given that the average check for round-trip international flights last week (March 2–8) was 15,660 rubles, based on exchange rate fluctuations, the company expects the average check to increase by approximately 10%, that is, to 17,226 rubles.
However, this is less than in the same period last year, when the average check for round-trip air tickets abroad was 18,897 rubles (at the beginning of last year, the high cost of oil caused an increase in the cost of aviation fuel). Thus, even taking into account the upcoming jump in prices for air tickets abroad, the cost of flights abroad will be lower than last year.
“Against the backdrop of the negative information background in the context of the spread of coronavirus, we are recording an increase in the number of requests for air ticket exchanges: compared to the same period last year, the growth in requests has grown from 1.2% to 6% of all bookings,” Biletix concluded.
Source: trn-news.ru