BRITISH MIDLAND Airways has released a report demonstrating that fares to Paris, Europe's busiest city, have increased significantly faster on routes where only two airlines compete.
The report, which analyses the effect of competition on the 40 busiest city pairs, finds that lowest business-class fares rose by 48% over the past decade on routes where there was a duopoly.
Where there are more than two competitors, the rise was kept to 36%. Lowest-available economy fares rose by 28%, against 46%, where there was no "genuine competition". The airline points out that 17 of the routes are still duopolies. Presenting the report in Brussels, British Midland chairman Sir Michael Bishop called on the European Commission to tighten up moves to allow greater competition.
Source: Flight International
