The airline Eurowings wants to increase ticket prices by “at least ten percent”. Managing Director Jens Bischof justifies this announcement with the fact that fuel prices have risen sharply and that additional costs of around 100 million euros per year have already been incurred.

In an interview with the Rheinische Post, the manager explains that the step is inevitable and takes the view: “Flying will become more expensive and must also become more expensive – just look at the record oil price above the 100 dollar mark. Accordingly, we will have to adjust our tariffs, which are already around ten percent more expensive than in 2019, by at least another ten percent. There is no other way to shoulder the burden of the oil price shock”.

On many routes, the average ticket prices paid by passengers have risen much more than Bishop described. Eurowings did that some time ago Copied "Ryanair/Wizz-Air Cabin Baggage System". and charges, for example, between Vienna and Stuttgart for taking a normal piece of hand luggage (“trolley”) around 18 euros extra per direction. Considering that this was still included before the changeover, but the ticket prices in the basic tariff were not reduced by the new "extra service" if this is not required, the actual price increase is significantly higher. The pure flight prices have also been increased, but the true extent has so far been "hidden" in new "optional services", which are also "bestsellers".

It is also evident that the price increases that have been implemented so far on routes where there is at best a competitor from a sister company such as Austrian Airlines have turned out to be much more pronounced than on routes where there is competition from low-cost airlines such as Ryanair. Two concrete examples of this: Between Vienna and Stuttgart, the Ryanair Group withdrew permanently when the corona pandemic began, despite initial protestations to the contrary. Austrian Airlines and Eurowings have gradually increased their prices significantly. On Vienna-Cologne, where you still have the Irish low-cost airline as a competitor, the average prices – apart from the fact that Eurowings charges extra for trolleys in the basic fare – have not risen significantly and have even fallen in some cases.

However, this behavior is quite common in the industry and is practiced by most airlines. Where there is competition, you tend to be able to get more cheap tickets, and where there is a monopoly, you have to dig deeper into your pockets. It is obvious that two carriers that have the same owner do not hurt each other.