Airfares are going sky high

AUSTRALIAN domestic airfares have shot up by as much as 96 per cent since May, market analysis has found.

Some overseas holiday destinations are now much cheaper than regional Australian centres, prompting concern about the effect on local tourism industries trying to recover from two years of pandemic hell.

With all major airlines under fire for recent cancellations, baggage losses and instances of poor customer relations, travel deals website Kayak has revealed average return economy airfares in Australia in July are about $409, an increase of about 24 per cent from May.

Gold Coast residents were facing the highest rise in ticket costs, with return economy fares to Melbourne up 96 per cent, and return economy fares to Sydney up 91 per cent, according to the Kayak analysis.

But there were other huge jumps. Cairns residents wanting to fly to Brisbane were facing fares 90 per cent higher that what they were in May.

Fares from Adelaide to Melbourne were up 87 per cent, and tickets from Darwin to Sydney 85 per cent more expensive.

Finder.com.au travel expert Stephanie Yip said Australian holiday-makers “should be prepared for prices to remain steep”.

“The pandemic saw airlines take on a massive financial blow. They’re only in the early stages of recovering their losses,” she said.

News Corp asked both Virgin Australia and Qantas about the outlook for fares for the rest of 2022.

A spokesman for Qantas said that the rising cost of fuel required the company “to rebalance capacity and fares in response”.

A spokesman for Virgin Australia said the airline “continues to offer incredible value and choice” on economy fares.