Era of cheap pandemic flights may be put on hold: business professor

The conflict in Ukraine could put a pause on those discount deals that we’ve seen during the pandemic, at least for the foreseeable future.

If we do see prices of plane tickets rise, that’s going to come down to the cost of aviation fuel, according to McGill business professor John Gradek, who used to work in the airline industry.

It’s not just the gas we put in our cars that are getting more expensive as the cost of a barrel of oil shoots up.

“The era of cheap flights might be put on hold for a while,” Gradek told CityNews. “I’m not saying it’s going to go away, but until such time as we have fuel prices coming back down to somewhere near the December, January 2022 range, those carriers will have to adjust their pricing.”

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Whether this would hurt discount airlines or more premium options more significantly, Gradek says they’ll all be under pressure.

“Whether you’re an ultra-low-cost carrier like Flair or Lynx, or whether you’re a full-service carrier like Air Canada, or even WestJet or Swoop, you’re going to be hit by these fuel prices,” said Gradek. “What you’re going to be seeing, are all of the carriers starting to adjust their prices.”

As long as the conflict continues, Gradek says we can expect to pay more than we have been for flights.