Savings made on plummeting oil prices will be passed on to passengers, say carriers
Flying could get cheaper next year
as airlines say they will finally start passing on some of the savings
made on plummeting oil prices.
Carriers are forecasting record profits
for 2015 due to cheaper fuel and rising demand and they expect to cut
the average ticket price by 5%, excluding surcharges and taxes.
The International Air Transport
Associated (Iata) admitted on Wednesday that the probable fare
reductions may not be big considering that the price of crude oil has
fallen by 40% since June, but is the most that carriers can do in the
short term
The association, which represents 240
airlines – 84% of the world’s air traffic – says that carriers are stuck
with contracts for fuel that pre-date the price slump of the past
months.
As demand for flying remains strong,
fares have instead been going up, but Iata chief economist Brian Pearce
said there were likely to be changes once fuel costs started to reflect
the recent oil price fall. “It’s going to be six months or so before
airlines are seeing lower fuel costs and, at that point, consumers are
likely to see a fall in travel costs,” Pearce said.
