Why airfares are so expensive
Since China reopened to foreign tourists earlier this year, many Americans interested in visiting China in the near future have expressed dismay over the high cost of air flights to and from China. Round-trip flights that normally cost around a thousand dollars before the pandemic now command triple of that amount. But why?
China tours - the Great Wall at Mutianyu
Shortage of supply is the answer.
Business travellers and Chinese Americans who hadn’t been able to travel to China earlier during the pandemic due to China’s harsh border control are flocking to China. In the meantime, US-based airlines are having trouble adding capacity because aircraft put in storage during the pandemic require a long time, at least 100 days, on maintenance before being ready for service again. And then there’s the shortage of pilots and cabin crews to man the flights – those who retired or were laid off during the pandemic are mostly gone for good.
The war in Ukraine is another factor. The US-led sanctions on Russia have consequences with one of them being Russia’s denial of Western civilian aircraft to fly over Russian air space. That means US airlines would have to add a couple of hours to their flight schedule, which costs the airlines more in jet fuel and labour. At the same time, Chinese airlines do not have the same problem. In other words, US based carriers are at a disadvantage in competing against the Chinese airline. For that reason, US carriers have banded together in lobbying the Department of Transportation and the Congress to ban Chinese carriers from adding capacity to their China/US routes.
There you have it.
Now, if it is too expensive for you to travel to China, waiting for a few months or a year might be a good bet.
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