Discount transatlantic flight tickets: Should we fear flight cancellations?

With demand for air travel across the Atlantic reduced and airlines selling their tickets at a discount, should we fear some flight cancellations?

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According to John Gradek, director of the aviation management program at McGill University, some flights are likely to be canceled, but airlines may choose to adjust their fleet capacity.

They can do this by changing the device that transports passengers to the other side of the ocean.

“I think the question is what to do with the plane if we cancel it,” he said in an interview with LCN. Airlines are trying to see if we have other opportunities to increase the value of the aircraft, but in the fall, there is not much demand.

“What we see with carriers these days is that they have the ability to really dynamically assess their capacity,” he says. What they are doing is they are not canceling the flight, but they are adjusting the capacity.

Airlines are particularly vulnerable to this situation as demand for these flights is expected to increase.

“I think they have tried to drive out some of the demand that was generated last year, and they anticipate about a 5 to 10% increase in demand,” Mr. Gradek explained. So, they increased the efficiency.

However, with inflation rising around the world, some have decided not to travel to Europe this year.

“People are wondering if it's worth it to go to Europe, given the prices we see on the associated costs of transportation,” he says. This means we have too many seats and not enough customers.

According to him, low prices are for a few more months.

“I think it will continue for some time,” he says. I think it's unusual for prices to go down in the month of August. Fall and winter are very low season in terms of demand in the Atlantic.

“They were ahead of normal prices in October and November,” he said. Prices of $600-700 are not unusual for this time of year.

Watch the full interview in the video above