Lost luggage, canceled flights, overcrowded airports: the aviation industry painted a desolate picture last summer. Now here’s the thing: Despite recent bad experiences, air passengers should pay much more for their tickets in the summer of 2023. Ironically, the Swiss spin the most on the price screw.
The German comparison portal Idealo looked at ticket prices for more than a dozen European airlines. The result: next summer, Switzerland will increase by 46 percent, the highest value in this industry. According to the evaluation, Swiss parent company Lufthansa and Austrian sister company Austrian lead the price increases.
Sustainability has a price
Swiss boss Dieter Vranckx (49) recently announced in a Blick interview that there would be price increases. He justified this, among other things, by the airline’s sustainability efforts. But it’s surprising that the increase is so steep right now.
Switzerland justifies rising prices with supply and demand. “Despite this, we continue to offer our customers very attractive and competitive prices in the market,” the airline writes on request.
1.65 million prices analyzed
Asked whether the price increases would not be met with great approval from customers after the chaos last summer, Swiss replied, “Considering the circumstances, Switzerland’s flight operations went very well during the summer holiday season, I saw it abroad.” Despite the difficult situation – key word shortage of staff – 97 percent of flights could be operated according to plan.
According to Idealo, it analyzed the price of 1.65 million for evaluation. Return flights in June-August were evaluated for 2021, 2022 and 2023. Prices may still change for next summer, as the comparison platform highlights.
Comparison of airlines and prices
| airline | 2022 – 2023 | 2021 – 2023 |
| Switzerland | +46.4 percent | +112.9 percent |
| Lufthansa | +40.8 percent | +93.3 percent |
| Austrian Airlines | +28.5 percent | +58.4% |
| Turkish Airlines | +14 percent | +42.7 percent |
| Iberia | +11.1 percent | +22.7 percent |
| AirFrance | +10.4 percent | +32.5 percent |
| Tui Fly | +7.4 percent | +43.5 percent |
| emirates | +4.2 percent | +57.8 percent |
| KLM | +2.7 percent | +60.4% |
| british airlines | -0.5 percent | +22.5 percent |
| Eurowings | –2.1 percent | +11.5% |
| ryanair | -6 percent | +46.3 percent |
| vulture | –6.5 percent | +11.7% |
| easy jet | -12.3 percent | +28.3 percent |
| TAPAirPortugal | –22 percent | +2 percent |
| Pegasus Airlines | –29.2 percent | -6 percent |
But there are also airlines that hardly or never raise their prices: Emirates and KLM, for example, only increase their prices moderately. Some low-cost airlines, including Ryanair, Easyjet, and TAP, are even correcting prices downward.
However, this is only limited good news for Swiss travelers: low-cost airlines are less represented in this country. For example, Easyjet flies from Zurich Airport to only three destinations in southern Europe. If you want a wider selection, you’ll need to switch to Euroairport in Basel or buy a more expensive Swiss ticket.