Constrained capacity and rising operational costs are pushing up air fares in Europe, according to a trends report out this week from FCM Consulting.

The report, based on global data sourced from FCM Travel and Flight Centre Travel Group corporate booking data for travel from April to June 2024, found European economy ticket prices have risen by an average of 13% and business class fares by 5% compared to 2019.

“While global seat capacity has grown by 3% compared to 2019, and 6% compared to 2023, Europe lags behind,” said FCM Travel Europe Leader, Andy Hegley .

“The number of seats in Europe has stagnated, and the number of flights has decreased by 6% in 2024 compared to 2019 levels.

“The airline industry is complex and constantly changing across each market. This poses a real challenge for organisations trying to optimise their travel programmes.”

The report shared that forecast seats offered across the top corporate global airlines in 2024 are set to be 5% above 2019 and, in comparison, seats offered in 2023 were 2% below 2019 levels.

It said 11 of the top corporate airlines are also forecast to exceed their 2019 levels by the end of 2024.

According to FCM data, NDC transactions in June 2024 represented 21.5% of ARC total transactions, up 3.5% on December 2023.

“As for accommodation, the hotel average room rate across the top 100 corporate cities reported by FCM Consulting’s business analytics team was US$182, a US$5 drop versus H1- 2023. As reported by STR on 6 July 2024, the global hotel occupancy rates were forecast to reach 70 per cent during July,” added Juan Antonio Iglesias, Head of FCM Consulting, EMEA.

“In the car hire sector, The H1-2024 global average daily rate was US$54, a decrease of 26 per cent, when compared to 2023.”

fcmtravel.com

corptraveller.com