Heathrow – US airfares fall
13.05.08
USA Today reports that it has gotten easier and slightly cheaper to fly between the USA and Heathrow in the past six weeks.
Since the ‘open skies’ agreement between the US and EU opened the transatlantic aviation market on March 30, there has been an influx of new services at Heathrow. Airlines including Northwest, Delta, Continental and even Air France rushed into Heathrow, in some cases moving flights from Gatwick and in other cases launching new routes.
From next month transatlantic travellers will be able to choose from 95 flights a day each way between Heathrow and the USA, 18 more than a year ago. The increase in flights means new options to consumers and lower prices, especially for higher-paying business travellers.
The newspaper says that the capacity surge has dampened airlines' ability to raise fares at the same rate as at other European airports. Fares fell slightly at Heathrow over the last year, whereas fares to airports in Europe, excluding Heathrow, jumped 9% and fares from the USA to all international destinations increased by 2%.
For some airlines, long-awaited entry to Heathrow has not been the prize they had expected, USA Today adds. It quotes Andrew Nocella, US Airways' senior vice president for planning: 'You always hope for a strong start right out of the gate. But I would describe Heathrow's start as not what we'd hoped for. It's going to be a tough market. In this case, there's a large influx of capacity, and prices are down.’
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