Holidaymakers issued warning over rising plane ticket prices this summer

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Plane ticket prices may rise by 10% this summer as travellers plan getaways after two years of travel restrictions. Wizz Air boss Jozsef Varadi said tickets are already more costly than they were in 2019 before the outbreak of Covid-19.The airline CEO expects rates to rise further into “upper single digits” in their second quarter, from July to September.

The news comes as UK airports have seen chaos, long queues, delays and even flight cancelations in recent weeks. “Our bookings are showing strong performance in the first fiscal quarter, with average fares trending higher at low single digits versus (the) same period in F20 (financial year ending March 2020)," he said.“For fiscal quarter two, we expect fares in the upper single digits ahead of the equivalent period F20.”This could see fares rise by close to 10%, although the company did not reveal any more detailed assessment of where they are likely to go.Wizz Air also warned shareholders that recent disruption at airports will probably lead to the airline making an operating loss in the first quarter of its financial year.“Shortages of staff in air traffic control, security and other parts of the supply chain are impacting airlines, our employees and our customers directly,” Mr Varadi said.He added: “We see strong consumer demand for summer, but expect an operating loss for the first quarter of F23."The airline industry remains exposed to externalities such as air traffic control disruption and continuing operational issues within the airports sector, adding to a volatile macro environment.“As a result, at this point, we are not providing further financial guidance for the year.”The number of passengers Wizz carried more than doubled from 10.2 million to 27.1 million