Flights from Canada among the most expensive in the world: Survey
It may not come as a shock to many Canadians, but a new survey by an online travel agency has found that flights out Canada are among the most expensive in the world.
In the report detailing the average cost of air travel for both short and long haul flights in 80 countries, Kiwi.com said Canada ranked 65th in the world in terms of affordability, with an average flight cost of $23.90 US per 100 km of travel. Last year, Canada was ranked 70th in the world.
The most affordable country to fly from, according to Kiwi. com, is Malaysia, with an average cost per 100 km of $4.18 US. Belgium was the most expensive at $54.53 per 100 kilometres, more than double the average cost to fly from Canada.
In calculating the rankings, the travel agency said it analyzed millions of flights to find the average of both short and long-haul flights, on low cost and full-service airlines from each country. Domestic flights were calculated by finding average airfare from the country’s capital to five major cities, while international flights were based on flights from all international airports within the country to several international hubs. Flight prices were checked on the same dates, taking into account both high and low seasons, Kiwi.com said.
Short-haul flights on low cost carriers in Canada cost an average of $11.24 US, while fullservice was $27.17. International flights cost an average of $21.28 US on low cost carriers, and $35.93 for full-service.
The U.S. was ranked 30th, with $5.41 for low-cost carriers on short-haul flights, and $6.48 for full-service airlines. Average flight costs in the U.S. stood at $11.50 US per 100 km of travel.
Meanwhile, some Canadian carriers are hoping to bring more affordable flights to Canada.
In November, Transport Minister Marc Garneau lifted the foreign ownership restrictions for two ultra-low-cost carriers, Jetlines and Enerjet. Westjet has also set its sight on the ultra-lowcost market, and said it hopes to launch the new airline in late 2017 or early 2018.