The new game of plane ticket sellers; Continuity of challenges

The head of trade association of air travel and tourism offices announced in May 1402 that the price of plane tickets on some popular routes has increased by 100% and has become rare. A little later, the proposal of increasing the price of plane tickets by 100% was proposed by the Association of Airline Companies, and after that, the concerns intensified with the announcement of the readiness of the airline organization to revise the rate and the green light of the parliament in this regard.

Finally, in June of this year, the market regulation headquarters issued permission to increase the price of plane tickets by 29%. However, some airlines have announced that they do not agree with this price increase and are asking for more. The Civil Aviation Organization, however, obliged the airlines to comply with the set price ceiling.

Following these conflicts, last week (mid-July 1402) news of a 9% increase in the price of plane tickets was published in some media and it was decided that the airlines will keep the prices based on the same 29% increase for 10 days and after that they can add 9% to the ticket price. do

“Jaafar Yazerlo”, the spokesperson of the Civil Aviation Organization, explained about the difference of opinion on how to apply the 29% increase in air ticket prices:

First, the market regulation headquarters and the support organization must announce their opinion based on the difference in opinion, and if they agree that 9% will be applied to the base rate, this will happen, but if they oppose the 9% increase, the same 29% increase will happen. fell and no more; Therefore, this issue comes back to the opinion of competent authorities.

In any case, the increase in the price of plane tickets and the lack of tickets have created many challenges for the people and the airlines, and it seems that the solution to this problem requires determining the end of the story as soon as possible and stabilizing the prices.

Shortage and expensive charter flight tickets

We went to “Nazanin Jalili Nesab”, head of operational department of Petah Air Travel Service Company, to further investigate the state of air ticket sales in the country.

This activist of the country’s aviation industry told Kajaro reporter about the challenges related to the lack of flight tickets and the increase in ticket prices:

The biggest challenge we face is related to charter flights. System flights fill their capacity quickly and most of the flights (with capacity) are chartered. There is also a limitation regarding the chartered flight and since the charterer usually wants to offer the flight on tour and fill his hotel, he does not open a single flight so easily and when he does open a single flight at a rate higher than the approved rate. It shows that passengers cannot buy tickets with this amount.

He continued:

As a result of this approach, we face either low capacity or high prices in flights. Ticket companies cannot take any action in this regard. In general, I think there is a problem with the lack of flights, and on the other hand, there is also the problem of price increases.

In response to this question, Jalili Nasab said:

In my opinion, considering that in the current situation, most of the flights are chartered, restrictions should be considered for offering chartered flights and the application of approved prices should be considered. In this way, just as the ticket agencies are under pressure, the charterers will also be under pressure and will not be able to open a higher rate than the approved one.

Note that charterers have complete discretion over their flights as they own the flight. In my opinion, at least they can reserve some flights for their hotel and tour and allocate some flights to passengers who want to use tickets only. I think that if there is a control in this field by the civil aviation organization, it is possible to solve this problem.

In response to the question that “the jump in the exchange rate and the sudden increase in the price of outbound flights has had an effect on the demand for foreign trips,” he said:

Currently, most of the foreign flights in our collection are related to users who reside in other countries, and the sales level on tourist flights is very low, and the trips are limited to those who have to travel due to work and residence conditions. So I can say that the demand for tourist flights has decreased a lot.

Losses of travel service companies from the current situation

The increase in the price and scarcity of plane tickets in some domestic routes has had adverse consequences for travel service companies.

Negar Ashourian, Public Relations Officer of Petah Air Travel Service Company, told Kajaro reporter, in response to the question, “What challenges does this travel company face due to the lack of tickets and the high cost of flights?”

Petah Air Travel Service Company, considering that it always tries to provide the cheapest ticket, has definitely faced challenges. Note that all aspects of our company’s advertising are focused on offering the cheapest (airline) tickets; But the hand of the collection is open to a certain extent.

He continued:

If we lower the price of the offered tickets below a certain limit, we will definitely be fined, and this has happened to us as well. In fact (during this time), on the one hand, we tried to maintain our slogan and say that we are the cheapest, and on the other hand, we were faced with the issue that the price of plane tickets was increasing, and according to the dumping rules (if the price was presented , below the set floor) we would be fined. Therefore, in my opinion, there has been a challenge of marketing source in this field.

The Public Relations of Petah Air Travel Service Company expressed in the end:

Regarding the flight routes, for a while the flights were greatly reduced and some routes had no flights at all.

Considering the many challenges in the field of lack of tickets and the high price of airplanes compared to people’s income, it can be said that the current situation undoubtedly needs specific reforms.

On the other hand, providing charter tickets only on tours has caused problems for the residents of tourist-oriented areas of the country such as Kish. In fact, Kishonds, who do not need to book a tour or hotel, always face the challenge of getting a charter ticket to the island, and it is difficult for them to travel to Iranian cities to see and visit their relatives.

It seems that proper investment in the aviation industry, increasing the number of lines and airlines and organizing the status of charter tickets can be among the measures that can be considered to overcome the current situation.

What is your opinion about the prices and conditions for obtaining plane tickets? What do you think are the most important problems in this field and what actions do you think should be taken to solve these challenges?