This has got to be some sort of a 21st century record for Australian aviation because flights to Melbourne are selling for up to, wait for it… $2,500!
*Gasp*
Flights between Perth and Melbourne or Brisbane to Sydney are currently selling for WAY more than an international flight and it’s all thanks to these three things:
First and foremost, this coming weekend is a long weekend for parts of Australia. People are wanting to get away, which would likely see airfares selling a little faster than usual.
Then add the fact that it’s the end of school holidays and you’ve probably got a few more families scheduling last minute getaways.
But that’s not all! This weekend also the big AFL premiership game between the West Coast Eagles and Hawthorn Hawks AND the NRL grand final between the Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys. So you have thousands of sports fans travelling interstate to support their teams.
As a result of increased demand, airlines have hiked up their airfares by $1,000 or more.
For example, sporting fans that left their travel plans to watch the AFL game in Melbourne to last minute may need to fork out up to $2,579 with Virgin and up to $,2993 with Qantas. And that’s just a one-way flight departing on Friday.
The return home flight will set fans back by up to $1,890 if flying back on the public holiday, Monday.
According to News.com.au, it was considerably cheaper for people from Perth to travel to Denpasar, which would only cost around $369 with Jetstar on Thursday.
Meanwhile, according to new research travel between Sydney and Melbourne jumped by 7.5 percent in July this year compared to the previous year. This occurred at a time when airfares were rising, which suggests increased interest in travelling interstate and a rise in consumer confidence.
