Your Next Holiday Flight Will Cost a Fortune
Lufthansa and its airline peers are having “fun” making money at customers’ expense.
Fly the costly skies.
Photographer: Michaela Rehle/BloombergDeutsche Lufthansa AG boss Carsten Spohr said the quiet part out loud last week, telling analysts the German flag carrier wouldn’t rush to add more aircraft capacity despite surging passenger demand, because high yields — industry jargon for average fares — “are just too much fun.”
Lufthansa isn’t the only airline executive sounding exuberant about soaring ticket prices helping repair their Covid-hit balance sheets. Leisure travel demand is off the charts, and US and European airlines are either unwilling, or unable, to increase capacity sufficiently due to staffing and equipment shortages. These highly advantageous conditions (for them) look set to continue for years.