Virgin capacity boost, but Europe airfares hold steady

Extra airline capacity to Europe over the northern summer — courtesy of the Virgin-Qatar partnership — has done little to reduce airfares for Australian travellers.

The much-anticipated launch of Virgin Australia flights to Europe, operated by partner Qatar Airways, has arrived without sacrificing the premium pricing airlines enjoy for northern summer fares.

In fact, Webjet data shows travellers are paying more for economy fares to destinations such as London, Rome and Paris — yet demand remained off-the-scale.

In June 2024, the cheapest fare on Sydney-Rome was $1745 with Air China, while Qantas was charging $2414. This year, the lowest price available is $2263 with China Eastern and Qantas is asking $3049.

Qatar Airways fares have also climbed, from $2180 on Brisbane-London in 2024 to $3320 in June this year. Business class fares are steeper too, starting at $9074 for Sydney-London, up from $8773 last year.

The higher prices have been attributed to the ongoing strong demand for Euro summer travel among Australians, who are apparently undeterred by a weak exchange rate and eye-watering fares.

Emirates revealed over 120,000 Australian travellers had bought flights to Europe in June, July and August, dominated by couples with 43 per cent of bookings, and families (25 per cent).

Premium cabins were once again in high demand, with Emirates observing a 15 per cent jump in bookings for premium economy, while business and first class demand was up 4 and 6 per cent, respectively.

Emirates’ Australasia vice president Barry Brown said the Australian appetite for travel remained “incredibly strong”.

Qantas reported a similar uptake of flights into Europe throughout the June to August period, with Paris proving the most popular destination, ahead of Rome and London.

Crowds at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Picture: Getty Escape

Additional capacity offered by new Qatar Airways-operated Virgin Australia flights starting mid-June was also being snapped up, with daily Sydney-Doha services particularly robust.

A Virgin Australia spokeswoman said there was still good availability on flights from Brisbane and Perth starting in the second half of June.

“The top five onward destinations for Virgin Australia’s Doha flights are London, Rome, Athens, Paris and Dublin,” she said.

“We’re also seeing strong interest in other European cities such as Barcelona, Milan, Madrid, and Manchester.”

Australian Travel Industry Association chief executive Dean Long said the main difference this year compared to previous Euro summers, was likely to be the length of trips.

He said instead of four weeks, travellers were cutting back to two or three weeks as a result of the exchange rate and cost-of-living pressures.

“We are finding some of those longer European trips are suffering as a result of families not having as much money to spend as in the past,” Mr Long said.

“But Europe will still have a very good summer, and I think with a new Pope coming into place, you’ll definitely see an increase in religious travel to Italy so that may hold up those numbers really well.”

Italy’s popularity during the Euro summer is showing no sign of waning. Picture: Nicholas Eagar/NewsWire

Greece, France and the UK were also expected to enjoy solid levels of visitation, but Mr Long said “new destinations” such as Slovenia and Bulgaria could do it tougher.

“I think we’re going to see some of those countries that had a really good year last year, do some really good numbers again, but we’re not going to see a spike for countries where we didn’t see it before,” he said.

“What we’re seeing is that money is being moved to southeast Asia.”

Data from foreign currency retailer Travelex for the year to date showed demand for the euro was down on last year, and sales of pound sterling had also declined.

In contrast, sales of Japanese yen, Thai baht, Vietnamese dong and New Zealand dollars had all increased.

“In general, our sales are driven primarily by travel demand, though we do see some immediate shifts influenced by currency fluctuations,” Travelex’s head of marketing Rob Dempsey said.

Webjet data showed some routes still offered competitive airfares even at the height of the northern summer, in late June-July.

Return economy fares for Sydney or Melbourne to London were being sold for under $2000 by Air India and China Southern, and for around $2500 on airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Turkish Airlines and Thai Airways.

Qatar Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Emirates had the most expensive fares on many routes, in a reflection of the demand.

Originally published as Virgin capacity boost, but Europe airfares hold steady