Monarch chief predicts bleak future for air travel

Managing Director for Monarch Airlines, Tim Jeans, while speaking at a London seminar for the Chartered Institute of Marketing Travel Industry Group, said the aviation industry is going through a rapid change, so much so that the there may come a point when the last five years will be remembered as a “golden age of travel”.

Consumers have had it good in this era, with airlines falling over themselves to slash rates and offer better prices to woo the dwindling number of travellers who are still flying.

Jeans, however, pointed out that fares seem set to go only higher, as taxes on air travel rise, and emission trading adds a bigger financial burden on airfares. The airline chief says the industry is providing too much capacity for too low costs, making the business unsustainable.

The Monarch chief cited a number of reasons that would combine to dampen demand in the future. The Airport Passenger Duty (APD) soon to be introduced, rising taxes, emissions trading and the rising cost of fuel will all affect prices and demand, Jeans warned, and added that many of these problems are not limited to the UK.

Jeans also noted that the flying experience in itself has become less attractive to people, and that the additional charges introduced by the industry has only made this worse. He claims that when faced with a choice, more people are now choosing other means of transport over air travel.

Jeans’ forecast was especially bleak for regional flights. The Monarch boss said he expects many regional routes to be cut, and that it is debatable how many would actually be reinstated.