“I was looking for an overseas trip, but I gave up because the flight ticket was too expensive. I’m going to take a rest while enjoying the air conditioner.”
An office worker, identified only by his surname Oh, gave up traveling abroad this summer. After the social distancing was lifted, he planned to travel abroad for his first vacation, but the price of tickets rose too much, which was a burden. “As I haven’t traveled abroad for the past two years, I’ve had high expectations for easing quarantine measures, but the price of tickets has risen more than I expected, and I think I’ll think about whether to travel abroad or not,” he said.
As the spread of COVID-19 subsides, the prospect that “revengeous overseas travel” will continue is becoming overshadowed. On the 8th, the obligation to quarantine immigrants was lifted, and the obstacles that blocked overseas travel were removed, but the prices and prices of airline tickets that ran through the roof are causing them to give up overseas travel. As international oil prices soar, it is unlikely that airline ticket prices will stabilize for the time being.
As of the end of July this year, the price of round-trip tickets from Incheon to New York is 3.5 million won to 4 million won. The price has nearly doubled compared to 2019 before COVID-19. In Europe, round-trip ticket prices between Incheon and Paris range from 3 million won to 3.2 million won, and Incheon and London range from 5.3 million won to 5.6 million won. Tokyo, Japan, which is nearby, also has a round-trip airfare of nearly 600,000 won when using a national plane.
In particular, international oil prices have continued to soar this year, further raising airline ticket prices. An official from the aviation industry explained, “If oil prices rise, fuel surcharges will be added to the price of tickets to cover them, and the recent sharp rise in ticket prices is also affected.”
According to the aviation industry, Korean Air’s international fuel surcharge in July will be applied at 22 levels, up three steps from 19 levels this month. Accordingly, depending on the distance of the route, 42,900 to 33,9300 won will be charged as an oil surcharge on a one-way basis. Compared to the highest oil surcharge of 79,200 won in February this year, the highest amount in July increased by 214,600 won.
As a result, travel agencies ahead of the summer vacation season are also not actively engaged in marketing. An official from travel agency A said, “The travel agency’s margin increases only when airfare is cheap, but as we fail to do so, we are not actively engaged in guest activities.”
Meanwhile, as oil costs and prices soar due to soaring international oil prices, ordinary people are closing their wallets.
Choi (34), an office worker, said, “I usually use my own car when I commute to work, but these days, I go to work by subway and eat at a cafeteria to save on gas prices,” adding, “It feels like my daily happiness is decreasing, let alone traveling abroad.”
The airline industry predicted that it would take at least two to three months for air ticket prices to recover from the pre-COVID-19 level.
The reason why airline ticket prices are skyrocketing is primarily due to the lack of supply compared to demand. Analysts say that the supply of air tickets has not been able to keep up with the recent lifting of social distancing due to the slow increase in travel demand.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s aviation information portal service, the number of passengers on international routes for national airplanes stood at 556,065 last month, more than tripled from 181,75 in February. On the other hand, during the same period, the supply of airline tickets increased by only 50 percent from 501,081 to 749,438 seats. This is one-tenth of the 6,364,404 seats in May 2019, before COVID-19.
On the 8th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport lifted the restrictions on the number of aircraft arrivals and operating hours introduced for quarantine measures in two years and two months.
“On the 8th, when the duty to quarantine was lifted, regulations on aircraft operations, such as hourly take-off and landing restrictions and nighttime landing bans, were lifted, but popular routes were organized slowly. Unlike Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States, Korea remains obliged to inspect COVID-19.”