Originally Posted by
malct
I have been looking for return flights to Bangkok flying from Manchester and i can get a return flight for £650 which is a lot cheaper than i can remember and i just wonder, Is this due to the currant issues and not many people flying or is there another reason, I would have thought with the price of fuel, It would be effecting the airlines unless middle eastern airlines don't have issues with jet fuel. We are looking at booking for Jan 2027 and its Class O but i can still get these fares flying in the next few months. I note that there's no sales on at the moment and if a sale did happen , I cannot see these prices come down any more.
Airlines may claim that price increases are due to the cost of fuel, but prices aren't determined by operating costs. They are determined by how they will make the most money. Right now people are avoiding the gulf flights, so they may have determined that lower prices will get them more passengers and thus more money in total.
Now the OP's report is for next Jan, but for late December, I am seeing sky-high prices for USA-India. Up to about $4K in economy and $16K in business class. Again, this is not based on fuel costs as such, but presumably because they think that holiday demand will remain high and passengers will pay high prices since they have heard that fuel is expensive.