U.S. air fares extend decline as Europe and Asia bottom out: Skytra

PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. air fares are approaching a 40{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} decline and still falling while ticket pricing in Europe and Asia is bottoming out, according to data (here) published on Thursday by Skytra, an Airbus-owned (AIR.PA) airline-hedging business.

In the face of a widespread grounding of flights and coronavirus travel restrictions, airlines are offering heavy discounts on the services they are still running.

Average fares for flights within the U.S.-dominated North America region are down 37.8{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} since Jan. 1 despite very low traffic, according to a rolling average of economy fares as of April 15, extending the 28.8{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} plunge recorded a week earlier.

The year-to-date decline in intra-European fares, by contrast, improved slightly to 20.7{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} from 22{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}, while the average drop in Asia Pacific narrowed to 13{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} from 14.4{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}.

Average yields – a proxy for fares expressed in revenue per passenger kilometre – dropped to 9.3 U.S. cents in North America from 15.2 cents a year earlier. In Europe they fell to 14.2 cents from 19.9 cents. In Asia-Pacific they slipped to 9.7 cents from 11.9 cents.