US summer airfares to Europe continue to drop

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On average, airfares from Atlanta to most destinations are significantly lower this summer than they were last year, including fares to Europe, which have dropped by 30 percent, according to a travel website’s figures.

Microsoft recently introduced Bing Travel to replace Farecast.com. The new site’s updated figures show that summer airfares have fallen from levels seen earlier in the year.

The lower fares are good news for air travellers, but not for the industry, which continues to see revenues decline. Airlines are facing an economic meltdown that has “no modern precedent,” according to a recent statement issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

According to Delta Air Lines, passenger revenues for the first four months of this year are down by nearly 20 percent over the same period in 2008.

Airfares from Atlanta to destinations in Europe have dropped to $1,045 this summer, on average, as compared with $1,493 last year.

Tom Parsons, the founder of travel website Bestfares.com, commented that some fares to Europe from Atlanta have fallen by as much as 40 percent compared to last summer, and that fares to Europe from some other cities in the US are even cheaper. He added that some of the cheaper fall fares to Europe are on offer from as early as mid-August this year.

This summer, the average domestic airfare from Atlanta is 20 percent lower than it was last year, at $288, compared with $360 during the summer of 2008.

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