Airlines already operating at maximum capacity!!

[partagas]

Here is some information that might be of interest in relation to several topics currently being discussed. Eg., Viability of A380 , the growth in world aviation etc., etc.

Just tried to purchase a ticket for my wife to return home to SE Asia for Christmas, but departing on about 10th December or so , to avoid the rush................... or so I thought!

I used two very well regarded London based travel agencies to investigate possibilities. Gateway destinations considered were Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong.
The search by both agencies revealed no business class seats available on either the respective national carriers or British Airways, to those destinations from LHR. Furthermore Air France were also full from Paris and Lufthansa from Frankfurt.
Eventually , due to a held option being released, was able to buy a ticket from LHR to BKK with Thai Airways, nearly a week later than planned. Cost £1100 one way, ( including the short final sector Bkk to SGN.)

NOW........... I am aware that this is a peak period and other times of year are quieter. However, the agencies advise that load factors are very high all year round and that demand exceeds availability at peak periods.

Finally, I only sought a business class seat so cannot advise what the situation was in economy or first class.

The airlines always claim that they need high yield business class passengers to be profitable, and there appears to be no shortage of those at the beginning of December!

[BoeingMEL]

It's pretty much the world over Partagas..... and it's not just the Christmas peak either. I've rececently been trying to get 4 return tickets with BA LHR/PMI almost ANY days in January. Virtually nothing available. Managed to book with Squeezyjet within 5 mins... the flights I wanted on the days I wanted. Saved over £1500 too! Cheers Stelios! bm

[Wino]

Yeah, but the problem is that the airlines, even though sold out have no pricing power, so they can't raise the ticket prices far enough for them to make a profit. SO they are holding down capacity inorder to attempt to drive ticket prices up.

The problem is that the internet has made ticket prices totally transparent, destoying any ability of the airlines to accomplish "yield management". That being the case it makes it even HARDER for an airline to be profitable with larger aircraft.

The last thing the airlnes want right now is a glut of seats on the market, that will further erode their pricing power and cause steeper losses.

Remember they need to sell the seats all year long. If they were to size their fleet for capacity during thepeak travel periods they would be bankrupt in no time. Because they would never be able to charge enough to cover the cost of doing business the rest of the year.

Cheers
Wino

[Red 69]

BoeingMEL,

If you wanted LHR-PMI, why didn't you try bmi?

Just a thought as they pay my wages!!

:)

JS

[Seat1APlease]

"Just tried to purchase a ticket for my wife to return home to SE Asia for Christmas, but departing on about 10th December or so , to avoid the rush................... or so I thought!"

Sorry but that doesn't avoid the rush it hits it head on.

The schools in the UK have broken up around the 11th this year so that pretty much is peak period.

I have just returned from SYD via SIN in J class and everything is fully booked, but as others have pointed out in the old days J class would be half full with punters paying £5k return whereas now its full of pax paying £2-2.5k return so the total yield isn't all that much better.

[View From The Ground]

Maybe you would have been better looking at the 12th.....which is just when the fares go up...it is usually heavy before then or in the 4 to 5 days prior to XMAS...might have been able to get a seat 12-17th.

Having said that just bought a full economy fare to BKK for just a hair under £900 return. Right in the XMAS peak so just have to live with it. Booked direct on the airline's web site....it was EK by the way. We really cannot begrudge the airines making money when the going is good.....there are plenty of bad times in aviation.......two this year!! SARS and the Gulf War.