Originally Posted by
mart901
It was Ryanair that stated they pulled flights because of APD, sorry if I wasn't clear.
I would never leave flights to a week ahead to book, its normally months and even up to a year or more. We booked Lanzarote in April and we're travelling in July 2020 par example. Low cost airlines work on the basis they get more expensive the closer you get, the opposite to how airlines (charter in particular) used to work. They budget things like fuel on funds from early bookings.This is the whole reason Ryanair have reduced services, the fact you could get cheap fares at the last minute means they've sold below cost all the way through from when the flight went on sale.
Its a bit more complicated than that - airlines are running systems 24/7/365 constantly analysing booking rates, inventory, competitor pricing etc and then adjusting their fares to optimise yield - this can lead to prices rising or falling as the day of flight approaches. There are tens of variables which will affect the quoted prices at any particular time.