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Australia’s domestic airfares rose slightly in November, continuing their slow march higher in 2017, new figures show.
The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) monthly measure of airfares increased for both business class and best discount economy tickets in November.
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The business class index was 94.7 index points in November, up from 94.2 index points a year earlier. The index has risen for the past three months.
Meanwhile, the best discount economy category rose to 62.8 index points, from 61.2 points in the prior corresponding period. The best discount index has increased for six out of the past eight months.
There was a sharp fall in the restricted economy index, which dropped to 55.8 points in November, compared with 79.8 points in the same month a year ago.
The BITRE report attributed the huge movement in the index to some fare changes at Jetstar.
“The main contributor to this decrease was a sharp fall in Jetstar fares, coinciding with changes to the fare restrictions on their Starter fare with Max product,” the BITRE report said.
Prior to this change, the restricted economy category was at its highest level since June 2011, when Virgin Australia and Jetstar introduced simplified fare structures that brought down the cost of so-called flexible tickets.
The BITRE air fare series is a price index of the lowest available fare in each fare class, weighted over selected routes.
