FLIGHT PRICE INDEX

The Definitive International Flight Guide To Australia

March 2007

The Flight Price Index, from www.australiatravelmarket.com, monitors scheduled airlines’ international flight fares to Australia in order to chart and predict booking trends:

BEST FARES

1. Airline Network have the best fares bookable online to Australia available from London Heathrow of £597 flying on Qantas Airlines for May 2007 departures.
2. Airline Network have the best fare bookable online to Australia available from Manchester of £623 flying on Cathay Pacific for May 2007 departures.
3. Airline Network have the best fare bookable online to Australia available from Glasgow of £583 flying on Qantas for May 2007 departures.

WWW.AUSTRALIATRAVELMARKET.COM PREDICTS:

1. It has recently been announced that Emirates have been granted permission to significantly increase the number of weekly flights to Australia from Dubai from the current 49 to 84 over the next 3 years. In addition, Etihad has recently announced it’s plans to launch flights to Sydney and Qatar are launching flights to Melbourne. It is fair to assume that these Middle Eastern Carriers will not be happy stopping at serving just one gateway each and we should expect to see them actively push for further flying rights. However, the key question that needs to be asked is are there that many more people needing to fly to Australia? The answer at this point, based upon Australia’s visitor arrival numbers would appear to suggest the answer is no. As such one of two things will happen: 1) Prices will be forced down to stimulate demand; or 2) Other carriers will be forced to reduce uneconomic capacity. What is certain is that in the short to medium term, the travelling public will certainly benefit from the increase in competition on this already competitive route.
2. Watch out for significantly cheaper fares for flying within Australia. Singapore based low cost carrier, Tiger Airways, has recently announced intentions to launch domestic flights within Australia suggesting that there are no genuine low cost carriers currently operating in the country. This is somewhat antagonistic towards Qantas low cost off shoot Jetstar and Virgin Blue, however given Tiger Airways links to Ryanair it is probably no surprise. The result will almost certainly be an aggressive price war as soon as Tiger airfares go on sale.

TRENDS IN MARCH

London Heathrow

1. Flights departing London Heathrow have increased in price by an average of 9.94% for all future months.

2. The only decrease in price is in October with an average price decrease of –11.91% from £808 to £722.

Manchester

3. Flights departing Manchester have increased in price by an average of 7.81%

4. May has the largest decrease in price from £857 to £752 -13.96%

Glasgow

5. Overall all flights have increased from Glasgow to Australia by 9.35%

6. The largest average price decrease from Glasgow is in June with a decrease of -11.75% from £1122 to £1004.

General

7. Overall there has been a general increase in the price of flights from all airports over the next 11 months.

8. April 2007 is currently the most expensive month for travel from the UK from all airports to Australia suggesting that the airlines are enjoying buoyant load factors during for the month of April and therefore not needing to do any late price discounting.

Source: www.australiatravelmarket.com

• Economy return airfare to Sydney as at 1st March ‘07

• Using leading scheduled airlines to Australia (QF/SQ/MH/CX/EK/TG/VS)

• Average cost of all airfares displayed in search results • Request airfare applicable at 01st of each month, for 2 week period

• Fares from London Heathrow, Manchester and Glasgow applied

• Supporting Fare Table can be viewed below

www.australiatravelmarket.com is a destination dedicated, content rich, travel search engine, that provides the independent traveller with the resources, on one comprehensive site, to quickly, simply and efficiently research, price compare and book.

-ENDS-

Note to editors: ALL PRICES ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF PRINTING

www.australiatravelmarket.com issues The Flight Price Index on a monthly basis. Should you require information at any other time, or would like a quote, comment or opinion from CEO Dave Simmons, please do not hesitate to contact Amy Sullivan Commercial Director on 020889 16824 amy@globaltravelmarket.co.uk