Airline Prices Dropped Worldwide in 2015

It may not seem like it, but airfare prices dropped over the past year, prompting more people to travel.

Across the board for the first eight months of 2015, airfare prices for return trips dropped by an average of five percent. As a result, three percent more people traveled throughout the year to date.

“In most parts of the world we see strong demand for travel exceeding the growth in capacity,” Tony Tyler, the International Air Transport Association’s director general and CEO, told The Telegraph. “Load factors (the number of seats filled) are averaging over 80 percent and consumers are the big winners with fares trending downwards.”

But along with that came a slowing drop in fares due to the increasing value of the U.S. dollar, which dominates the oil industry. So even though oil’s value dropped, airfare became cheaper at a much slower rate, sometimes seeing little-to-no change in airlines that are operated outside the United States.

Tyler thinks this trend in lower prices/more travelers sends a powerful message across the world, showing terrorists that tourists will not bend to their ways.

“The most important response to acts and threats of terrorism is to show that we will not let the terrorists change our lives,” he told The Telegraph. “[The worldwide aviation industry will] create opportunities for business and leisure and for greater understanding among people and cultures. By doing so, flying is a force for good in our world. As we look to 2016 and beyond it’s a reality that should continue to inspire us all.”

[Photo: Getty]