Do Australians pay too much for domestic airfares?

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 8 years ago

Do Australians pay too much for domestic airfares?

By Michael Gebicki
Updated
High volume domestic routes are priced reasonably competitively compared with similar distances overseas.

High volume domestic routes are priced reasonably competitively compared with similar distances overseas. Credit: Jessica Hromas

By most yardsticks, the answer is "no". For example, a return ticket from Sydney to Cairns at the cheap end of the scale costs around $A350.

That's a distance of 1950 kilometres, roughly the same as from Boston to Miami, and the cheapest round trip flight between those two is just over $US235 ($A335), which is only $A15 less than the Sydney-Cairns flight.

A return Melbourne-Coolangatta flight starts at around $A240. That's 1680 kilometres, about 200 kilometres less than New York to New Orleans, and round trips between those two start at $US335, about $A230 more that a low-cost Melbourne-Coolangatta flight.

When you apply the distance measure to the European scene, travellers pay more in Australia.

London-Malaga is practically the same distance as Melbourne to Coolangatta and the cheapest return flight with a bottom-tier budget airline costs just €68 ($A110), less than half the Melbourne-Coolangatta flight.

Frankfurt to Athens is not far short of the Sydney-Cairns distance and the cheapest flight is just €107, about $A180 less than the Sydney-Cairns flight, but that involves a one-stop flight aboard a budget airline with a travel time of more than 10 hours on the return journey.

Where Australian travellers fly between major cities and holiday hotspots they benefit from the cost savings that airlines achieve when they operate large, highly efficient aircraft in a competitive environment.

Typically this does not apply to flights to regional centres, which is why a flight from Sydney to Broken Hill costs more than the cheapest flights between Melbourne and Singapore.

See also: How to avoid getting bumped from an overbooked flight
See also: How to make the most of airline's early-bird sales

Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter

Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading