Irish Examiner view: Is the age of cheap air fares at an end?

Ryanair predicts 30% hike in prices, blaming cost-of-living crisis, rising fuel costs, and post-Covid staffing levels

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary maintains that cheap flights are unsustainable in the short- to medium-term.

Is the term “budget airline” about to be lost to us as part of our current lexicon?

Oddly enough, that is the prediction of the man who brought those words into common usage across Europe — Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, who is predicting that air fares will rise by up to 30% in the short to medium term.

And, while he accepted full responsibility for bringing low-cost air travel to Europe, and that he had made a lot of money from it over the last two decades, he maintains that cheap flights are unsustainable right now.

Spiralling cost-of-living increases, startling rises in fuel costs, and post-Covid staffing issues at both airlines and airports have led to chaos at airports around the world in recent weeks, and the threat of increased ticket prices will do little to sate consumer concerns about the viability of travelling at the moment.

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However, Mr O’Leary’s assertion that current prices are at a rate unsustainable to make commercial sense indicates that the boom time for budget airlines is over.

He has a point, too, when he says it is a ridiculous situation whereby a flight from Ireland to Britain is cheaper than the train fare from the destination airport to the nearest city.

Combine that with the fact that oil prices will remain structurally higher for as long as the next five years and airlines will be forced to up their ticket prices and accept the consequences.

Quite whether that will see the death of the budget airline remains to be seen.