A new poll has revealed that about 68 per cent of Australians are ready to fly internationally. And with the huge number of discounted airline tickets available, now may be a good time to book that overseas trip.
The report from Skyscanner also revealed that travellers are ready to splurge, with 51 per cent planning to spend more on travel in 2022 than they did in 2019.
The top-searched international destinations span across New York, Madrid, London, Paris, Doha, Rome, Tokyo, Vancouver, Las Vegas and Athens.
But there are signs that those deals may not be around for long.
Airlines slashed services and closed local offices when arrivals were capped and borders closed throughout last year.
As they try to build their capacity and operations, prices are certain to rise or remain high.
Carriers from overseas – such as Singapore Airlines, which has kept flying on vastly reduced capacity – now need to make up for lost revenues.
Kayak, another travel website, found prices for economy seats are on average 54 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, according to data provided to Guardian Australia. The data was based on searches for flights between February 1-13 that were departing within 180 days of the search date.
Skyscanner’s travel expert Brendan Walsh insists it’s a good time to score a cut-price deal and leave yourself a bit of extra cash to treat yourself once you get to your destination.
“Strict restrictions for international and interstate travel combined with reduced capacity in Australia had a knock-on effect on ticket prices,” said Mr Walsh. “As we start to see restrictions ease and additional regional travel corridors come into play, we expect to see more travel providers move capacity to serve the popular routes and compete for bookings with continued competitive prices.
“Most providers will aim to keep fares low as they compete to win back travellers’ business once they can dust off their suitcases and return to the skies, as we’re already seeing with flash sales.
“With demand from Australian travellers coupled with attractive pricing and some airlines extending flexible flying policies, this is providing the backdrop necessary to unlock consumer friendly travel, and it hopefully won’t be long to wait until we’re all planning that next dream trip again.”
But there are some difficulties with flights to the United States, with carriers such as Virgin Australia and United Airlines cutting their capacity.
“There’s less competition for flights from Australia direct to the US, and limited availability, so prices have risen,” said Kelly Spencer, general manager of Flight Centre Australia.
“But with the Australian borders opening, that will mean more international tourists coming to Australia so the carriers coming out will need to fill their aircraft going back.
“At the moment, for most destinations, however, airlines are competing for customers and trying to get their services back off the ground. And we’re seeing a lot of low-cost airlines who have destinations like Bali and Phuket as their major routes competing with the full-service legacy carriers.”
The deals
Flight prices are constantly changing and can vary greatly according to what time of year you’re travelling, which airline you fly with and how flexible you can be with dates and stopovers.
But as a general guide, here are some of the best deals going around…
Flights to major European cities from Australia have some great deals at the moment, with flights to Berlin as low $681 return, or $1069 for return flights to London. There are also great flight deals for Paris, reaching as low as $1031 return, and for Athens, from an extraordinary $760 return.
These flights generally leave from Sydney to Melbourne, but if there’s a cheaper option in a neighbouring city, you can often easily get a cheap connecting flight with Jetstar, Rex or even with new low-cost carrier Bonza.
If you’re fiending to get back to Southeast Asia, you can secure return flights to Phuket from as low as $367 return, or if you want to keep it tropical but head elsewhere you can grab Fiji flights from $384 return. There’s also plenty of low-cost flights to Singapore, starting from $381 return.
If you’re looking more towards the US, there are flights to Honolulu for as little as $590 return, to New York from $1168 and to Los Angeles from $856 return. These prices were all sourced on Skyscanner and were accurate at time of writing.
How to get yourself a deal
Skyscanner also shared some tips on how to find yourself the best price possible for your next international trip.
Be flexible with dates: Looking across multiple dates and even airports will maximize your chances of getting a good price. Flight prices are all about supply and demand, so on dates that are more popular, prices are likely to jump up. Even flying on less popular days of the week can end up scraping a good chunk off your price.
Mix and match: Remembering that fares don’t always have to be booked as return fares and you can mix and match on airlines to net serious savings. Skyscanner and other flight comparison sites will generally show you options for mix-and-match flights you can save big on.Be in the know: On Skyscanner or your platform of choice, you can set up a price alert for when flight prices drop or specific deals are launched – you simply select flights or destinations and receive an email when prices go low.