A flight during the Christmas holidays? "It costs up to 900% more than normal airfares," according to Codacons, which has filed a new complaint with the Antitrust Authority, the Ministry of Transport, and ENAC. "Anyone currently purchasing direct Christmas flights from northern Italian cities to the main airports in Sardinia and Sicily must contend with prices well above average," the association explains.
Comparing the minimum fares applied by airlines for December 23, we find that the Milan-Palermo flight starts at €170, 900% more than the minimum €17 required for the same route flying on Tuesday, January 13. From Milan to Catania, the ticket on December 23 costs €178, 790% more than the €20 on January 13. The price of the Rome-Catania route on the same dates increases by 758% (from €17 to €146), the Rome-Palermo route increases by 616% (from €18 to €129), while the Milan-Cagliari flight increases by 350% (from €18 to €81). Things are better, so to speak, if you fly from Rome to Cagliari: in this case, the price increase compared to January's fares is +182%.
Given the same level of service, "airfares during the holidays experience a completely unjustified surge, and for this reason we have filed a new complaint with the Antitrust Authority (which is already investigating the phenomenon of high airfares), ENAC, and MIT, requesting urgent intervention to help citizens who every year have to endure the Christmas bloodbath in the air transport sector," concludes Codacons.
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)