Reflexes of the Covid-19 pandemic put pressure on airfare in the 2nd quarter of the year

The reflections of the pandemic in the domestic airline industry began to put pressure on airfare in the 2^nd quarter of this year, with an increase of 21.7% in the average domestic airfare compared to the same period in 2020, when the supply and demand for flights even registered a 90% drop, compared to the same period in 2019.

This rise, according to the Report Domestic Airfares 2nd triad 2021 (available only in Portuguese), released on September 13 by the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), occurs in parallel to an increase in the price of aviation fuel (QAV) by 91.7%, compared to the same period of the previous year, and a higher growth in demand compared to supply.

In this scenario, the Real Domestic Average Airfare in the second quarter of 2021 was R$ 388.95. In the same period, the Real Domestic Average Airfare Yield - an indicator that represents the average value paid by the passenger per kilometer flown – was R$ 0.2810, with an increase of 25.7% in relation to the second quarter of the previous year.

In the last six months, 8.2% of the tickets were sold with airfares below R$ 100.00 and 52.4% below R$ 300.00. The tickets above R$ 1,500.00 represented 1.7% of the total.

Among the Brazilian airlines with the largest market share, representing 99.5% of the demand for domestic air transport of passengers, tickets sold by Latam rose 21.3%, and fares of Azul and Gol increased by 18.6% and 15.0%, respectively.

International Market (2020)

In the international market, the average economy class round-trip fares to all continents, except Africa, registered a drop, points out the International Air Fares Report year 2020 (available only in Portuguese), also released on September 13. Among the factors that contextualize the drop in the value of international tickets, we highlight the reduction of flights and routes, due to restrictions on the entry of Brazilians in other countries, and the decrease in the number of passengers boarded by 71.6%, compared to 2019.

In the comparison with 2019, the drop in the average fare for flights from Brazil to Central America in 2020 was 10.2%, and the average value of fares in US dollars reached US$ 650. For flights connecting North America, the drop was 23.2% and the average fare stood at US$ 566. Connections between South America recorded a drop of 16.6% and average fare of US$260.

On flights between Brazil and the European continent, the drop reached 15.3%, with an average fare of US$ 730. The connections between Asia registered a drop of 13.4% and average fares of US$ 949. In relation to the African continent, there was an 18% increase in fares. The average value of the tickets was US$ 629.

The values presented consider only round-trip tickets in economy class.

Lear more about the methodology of the airfare report (available only in Portuguese).