With the reduction of health restrictions and the advance of vaccination, flights to Europe were once again crowded. Brazilians are excited about the approach of summer and there is a feeling of an end to the punishment of abstinence from international travel imposed by the pandemic.
The high season hasn’t even arrived and the numbers already reflect the trend.​
In April, the average number of departures abroad was 87 flights a day, seven times more than in the same period last year, according to Anac (National Association of Civil Aviation). In May, overseas bookings reached the highest number since January 2020, according to CVC Corp. filings.
Even during the insecurity caused by the virus, in 2021, Europe was the second most popular destination for tourists, second only to Central America and the Caribbean – places that have always had lower health barriers than European countries.
Europe was also the second largest average ticket, R$ 7,543, corresponding to 23.8% of international revenue in 2021. The old continent continues to enchant.
After two years of a pandemic, dentist Carla Nardi celebrated when she was finally able to leave for Italy in early June. “For two years I was stuck with national itineraries”, she explains, who organized everything herself, without the help of a travel agency.
“I didn’t have any difficulty, but I found the prices much higher than before the pandemic”, he says.
Nardi’s observation is not an isolated case – queues, complaints and crowded terminals were a constant at London’s main airports this month, and problems of other natures also help to disrupt European tourism, such as the contingency plan for immigration. in Lisbon.
Along with her husband, Carla Nardi went to Rome, where they rented a car to go down to the Amalfi Coast, in the south of the country — a route they have already done a few times.
The rise in prices is real. In the first quarter of this year alone, according to Anac, the value of kerosene used in aircraft rose 82.7% when compared to the same period in 2019.
This is the item with the greatest impact for the sector. According to Abear (Association of Brazilian Airlines), it is equivalent to one third of the sum of all costs.
“I paid R$8,576 from São Paulo to Paris”, says dental surgeon Fulvia Brancaglione, who traveled to France in early June. “My flight was fully booked, there was no possibility of upgrading my ticket.”
In order not to pay the same fare as Fulvia, her son Gustavo opted for a longer route to reach Paris at the same time as his mother. He boarded in São Paulo for Fortaleza, and from there to Paris. The trip cost around R$6,000.
Already the Brazilian businesswoman Susie Lau, who lives in Chicago, in the United States, canceled plans to spend a vacation in Europe with her husband. Every year, the couple goes to Dusseldorf, Germany, to visit their family, and just at that time.
“The idea was to enter the continent via London, as usual, and then head to Germany, because the trip is less than half the price of flying direct from Chicago to Dusseldorf”, he explains.
But this year, Susie thought the program would be “an adventure”, due to the more than a hundred cancellations of British EasyJet flights that have been made since April.
It is worth remembering that two months ago the company announced that it was undergoing major medical leave of employees contaminated by the Covid virus. The low-cost airline has even removed six seats from A319 aircraft to reduce crew.
In May, there was a crash in the IT system and more cancellations.
The problem is not unique to EasyJet. Many airports are trying to increase staff to cope with the resurgence of high travel demand. The sector, however, is working to readjust. Air France, for example, has already announced that it will start operating two more weekly flights between São Paulo (Guarulhos) and Paris.
In this way, the company will move from the current ten frequencies to 12, closer to the pre-pandemic offer in the capital of São Paulo, which was 14 departures per week.
“This excess of travelers is even getting in the way of train travel,” believes Susie, who lives in Chicago. Before giving up on the trip, she studied the possibility of a direct flight to Frankfurt – which costs US$ 4,000, the couple.
“Next, I quoted the train, US$ 200. However, in addition to the strikes on the rail network, cancellations are also happening due to the excess of tourists”, he adds.
The direct flight from Chicago to Dusseldorf, according to her, costs US$ 5,000, in high season, for the couple. “When we fly through London, we spend $2,000. It’s not worth it,” she says. “Let’s leave to travel in September.”
