The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics’ (BITRE) latest air fare index report shows that discount and restricted economy fares during September were lower than the same time last year, while business class airfares increased slightly.
The Best Discount index came in at 67.9 compared to 78.5 for September 2009, while the Restricted Economy index was also down from 95.1 to 92.9. The Full Economy index rose from 90.0 to 92.8 while the Business index increased to 97.7 from 94.3.
The index seems to indicate that the low cost carriers in particular are continuing to discount their fares to stimulate traffic, which has in recent months continued to grow strongly. It is expected that the indexes may stabilise in coming months as the airlines move to recover yield heading into the busy summer season.
