This was published 1 year ago
Airfares in Australia: Are we being ripped off by airlines? What the numbers show
By Michael Gebicki
A Qantas flight from Melbourne to London costs $5.68 per kilometre.
Are we being squeezed by our airlines? With more hard-earned dollars required to fly these days, there's a suspicion airlines have jacked up prices for Australians.
The cost of operating an airline, including fuel, staff, aircraft buying or leasing, terminal space and landing fees, are much the same for airlines the world over, but are Australians paying more to fly than everyone else? One way to find out is by comparing the cost of flying per kilometre aboard an Australian airline with what other carriers are charging.
Dates chosen for this survey are outbound on May 1, 2023, returning on May 22. That avoids price distortions such as those caused by school and peak holiday periods, and it's far enough in the distance to be quarantined from major price swings. Budget airlines are not included and the fare is the cheapest return economy ticket available for those dates. Distance travelled is the total for the return journey, not the one-way distance.
Domestic flights
Los Angeles to New York
Distance travelled: 7910 Kms
Airline: United Airlines
Fare: $654
Fare per 100 kilometres: $8.27
Sydney to Melbourne
Distance travelled: 1410 kms
Airline: Virgin Australia
Fare: $298
Fare per 100 kilometres: $21.13
Sydney to Perth
Distance travelled: 6554 kms
Airline: Qantas
Fare: $779
Fare per 100 kilometres: $11.89
Toronto to Vancouver
Distance travelled: 6690 kms
Airline: Air Canada
Fare: $586
Fare per 100 kilometres: $8.76
International long haul
Melbourne to London
Distance travelled: 33814 kms
Airline: Qantas
Fare: $1921
Fare per 100 kilometres: $5.68
London to Melbourne
Distance travelled: 33814 kms
Airline: Qatar Airways
Fare: $2489
Fare per 100 kilometres: $7.36
Singapore to Paris
Distance travelled: 21450 kms
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Fare: $1484
Fare per 100 kilometres: $6.92
New York to Rome
Distance travelled: 13372 kms
Airline: United Airlines
Fare, $855
Fare per 100 kilometres: $6.39
Melbourne to Delhi
Distance travelled: 20,376 kms
Qantas
Fare: $1290
Fare per 100 kilometres: $6.33
Europe
London to Hamburg
Distance travelled: 2136 kms (one-stop flight via Frankfurt)
Lufthansa
Fare: $319
Fare per 100 kilometres: $14.93
London to Frankfurt
Distance travelled: 1306 kms
Lufthansa
Fare: $232
Fare per 100 kilometres: $17.76
Paris to Nice
Distance travelled: 1586 kms
Air France
Fare: $328
Fare per 100 kilometres: $20.68
Long haul flights
Among the long-haul flights surveyed, Melbourne to London with Qantas is the winner, cheaper per kilometre than New York to Rome and Singapore to Paris. Cheaper also than the Qatar Airways flight in the opposite direction. In second place is Qantas' Melbourne to Delhi flight, and that's despite a lack of competition on this route. The only other airline operating a non-stop flight from Melbourne to Delhi is Air India.
Among the long-distance domestic flights, Sydney to Perth with Qantas compares less favourably with the US and Canadian domestic flights. However Virgin Australia has a cheaper non-stop flight on the same dates, reducing the cost to $8.61 per 100 kilometres, about par with the Toronto-Vancouver flight, and just slightly more than United's LA-New York service.
Short haul flights
Sydney to Melbourne comes at a high cost per kilometre, but the relevant comparison in this case is with the three intra-European flights. Short-haul flights have higher operating costs per kilometre than long-distance since fixed costs assume greater prominence. Fuel burned on taxiing and take-off is the same for any flight, and therefore becomes a greater proportion of the cost of operating a short-haul flight. Time spent on the ground relative to in the air increases, and the aircraft isn't earning anything when it's stationary. That goes a long way to explaining why Virgin's Sydney-Melbourne flight looks expensive viewed through the per-kilometre lens. London's Heathrow and Frankfurt Airport are both major hubs with frequent daily services between them, and flying between hub cities is usually cheaper than non-hub cities.
So are we paying over the odds?
Based on this analysis, the price we're paying for air travel is nothing to complain about. As a nation that loves to travel, our airfares are in the same ballpark as the rest of the world.
See also: Will this low-cost carrier's return to Australia push airfare prices down?
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