Facua-Consumers in Action has informed the authorities of an “inflated” increase in the prices on airline tickets that connect Seville and Málaga with Madrid following the entry into force of the Royal Decree-Law that sets limits to prevent airlines from taking advantage of the increase in demand caused by the closure of high-speed rail traffic after the tragedy in Urda.
As Facua has detailed in a statement, the organization has sent to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs the results of a study on the prices of 279 scheduled flights between 5 and 15 November by the five companies that operate these connections between the two main Andalusian airports and Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas.
With this information, Facua requests that Consumer Affairs open an “immediate” investigation, understanding that the fares applied by the airlines are “far above the usual ones during this period.” The Royal Decree-Law establishes that, in services with strong seasonality, the reference should be the prices for the same range of dates from the previous year, updated in line with the CPI.
In the case of Iberia Express, the most repeated price in the coming days stands at 98.53 euros per trip, “more than double the price that is most repeated between 5 and 15 February, 38.53 euros.” As with November, February is considered the low season on these routes, so, according to Facua, the amounts are usually comparable. In Air Europa, the most usual fare rises to 82.53 euros, compared with the 33.48 euros recorded in the same interval in February.
The most frequent prices of Volotea, Wizz Air and Ryanair between 5 and 15 November are 75.00, 69.99 and 55.37 euros, respectively. These airlines still do not sell tickets for those routes in February, so Facua has only been able to verify the data of the first two companies.
As for minimum fares, the cheapest ticket available with Iberia Express in the coming days is 31.53 euros and appears on just one flight, compared with the 20.53 euros for which eleven flights are offered in February. In Air Europa, the current minimum price is 53.53 euros, also on a single flight, while in February ten flights are found to the same destination for 20.53 euros.
Regarding the lowest prices of Volotea, Wizz Air and Ryanair in the analyzed November dates, they reach 50.00 euros (two flights), 40.44 euros (two flights) and 44.62 euros (one flight), respectively.
Average increases of 66.6% in Iberia Express and of 195.1% in Air Europa
When comparing the average price of all flights of Iberia Express in the eleven days of November with that of the same stretch in February, Facua concludes that fares are 66.6% higher (93.48 versus 56.12 euros). In Air Europa, the average price between 5 and 15 November is 195.1% above that offered on average in the same period of February (125.63 versus 42.57 euros).
To prepare the study, the association compiled all the prices published by the airlines for the period from 5 to 15 November between 22:00 and 23:00 on 4 November. In the case of tickets corresponding to the interval from 5 to 15 February, the data were obtained between 8:00 and 9:30 on this Thursday, 5 November.
The analysis always limits itself to one-way routes Sevilla-Madrid, Málaga-Madrid, Madrid-Sevilla and Mádrid-Málaga in economy class, without including additional baggage or discounts associated with belonging to loyalty programs or saving plans.