Antitrust confirms: strong price increases on flights to Sardinia in the summer and during the Christmas and Easter holidays . But the Authority is unable to define the weight of the algorithms on the evident anomalies detected, and for this reason it extends by one year - to December 31, 2025 - the closure of the proceedings against the airlines .
This was reported by Adiconsum Sardegna, which examined the preliminary report produced by the AGCM and published yesterday as part of the fact-finding investigation into “Pricing algorithms in passenger air transport on national routes to and from Sicily and Sardinia”.
THE REPORT
"The analyses carried out - writes the Antitrust - have highlighted the tendency towards a significant increase in prices in some periods of the year , in particular on some days close to holidays (e.g. Easter, Christmas and New Year's Eve), weekends, long weekends and in the summer period. For example, on 20 August flights departing from both Sicily and Sardinia had an average price of around €140-160; approximately 40-50% of passengers paid more than €150 (in particular 20-30% paid between €150 and €200 and 10-20% paid more than €200). During the Christmas period, the average price for flights to Sicily reaches, on 23 December, a level of €160-180 and over 60-70% of passengers paid more than €150 (in particular 20-30% paid between €150 and €200 and 30-40% more than €200). On the same day, in Sardinia, the average price is around €100-120, with a preponderant percentage of tickets (around 60-70%) placed in the medium range (between €50 and €100). This result appears consistent with the presence of public service obligations in Sardinia».
The systems used by the different companies in defining the tariffs and in the characteristics of the algorithms used, the Authority writes, «are different from each other». This therefore results in « temporal dynamics of the prices offered that are significantly different from one operator to another , which materialize, in some cases, in a series of discrete jumps from one tariff class to another and, in other cases, in gradual or even seamless passages between the different values of the initially pre-established tariff matrix».
Carriers arrive at defining fares with the help of "one or more algorithms, a series of information entered into the system (number of reservations, rate and speed of flight filling, historical trend of reservations, route, season, date and time of departure, number of days separating the reservation from the departure and so on)" . And even the accessory services, such as the choice of seat or hand or hold baggage vary based on these algorithms, the report continues.
ADICONSUM
"The Authority - explains the president of Adiconsum Sardegna Giorgio Vargiu - confirms our complaints about the strong price increases that weigh on those who have to reach Sardinia by plane in some periods of the year, but is unable to define the weight of the algorithms on the formation of tariffs".
Hence the extension of the proceedings: « The failure of the Antitrust to intervene on the issue will also lead to a bloodbath this Christmas and will not prevent the usual speculation on the skin of those who decide to return to the island by plane to spend the holidays with their families », concludes Vargiu.
(Unioneonline/L)