low as £150 gross, with taxes. Even during the peak summer travel period fares were up to £100 lower than last year.
Managing director Roy Graves added: “A strengthening of the market has been sufficient to give carriers and consolidators more optimism for next year, and we anticipate that the next couple of months will see airlines moving away from late-booking deals.”
He said instead they would offer advance-purchase deals for a limited period to try to encourage travellers to commit themselves early. “This is definitely good news for the industry,” added Graves.
“With revenue in the bank earlier, airlines should have the confidence to maintain fare levels into 2000, giving agents and consolidators the benefit of increased margins for next summer’s peak period,” he added.
Hamilton Travel air product manager Katharine Dunwoodie said there would still be some good fares to Florida for this winter. “Certainly there is still loads of availability and we expect airlines to keep bringing out special fares,” she said.
At present, scheduled fares to Florida from October to mid-December lead in at £206. Cosmos is selling charter flights from £299 for travel from the end of November.
Unijet said charter seat-only specialists had not been forced to offer such big discounts this summer as there was less capacity in the market than in 1998.
Unijet aviation director Claire Trevis said:”Charter capacity was reduced because of all the consolidation that has been going on in the seat-only market over the past months.
“I couldn’t say how many charter seats went out of the market, but there were definitely less than last summer.”
She said that, as a result, operators had managed to get close to the full price for seats to Orlando during July and August, which started at around £378 for an indirect flight or about £599 for a direct charter.
From next summer, there will be extra charter capacity to Florida as Cosmos is planning to increase the size of its programme.
The operator has already added extra flights from both Gatwick and Manchester over Easter to cater for an anticipated incr- ease in demandduring the holiday period.
Senior product manager David Binns said:”April has traditionally been a popular time to visit Florida and for 2000 the combination of a late Easter and the early May Bank Holiday has helped boost demand.”
Both Monarch and Britannia will give passengers the option of upgrading to a schedule-style service on Florida flights next summer after a good response to their new premium cabins this year.
Britannia’s 360 Premium and Monarch’s Premium services offer passengers extra legroom and an upgraded in-flight service. Its 360 Premium costs an extra £120 return, while Monarch charges an extra £99 for a seat in its Premium Cabin. Passengers who only want extra legroom can pay £60 return for Britannia’s 360 Extra service.
TRANSATLANTIC carriers are expected to bring out a range of advance-purchase special offers on flights to Florida over the next few months.
Long-haul specialist Travel 4 said these would replace the late-booking deals airlines were offering earlier in the year, when a sluggish market forced carriers to reduce fares to as low as £150 gross, with taxes. Even during the peak summer travel period fares were up to £100 lower than last year.
Managing director Roy Graves added: “A strengthening of the market has been sufficient to give carriers and consolidators more optimism for next year, and we anticipate that the next couple of months will see airlines moving away from late-booking deals.”
He said instead they would offer advance-purchase deals for a limited period to try to encourage travellers to commit themselves early. “This is definitely good news for the industry,” added Graves.
“With revenue in the bank earlier, airlines should have the confidence to maintain fare levels into 2000, giving agents and consolidators the benefit of increased margins for next summer’s peak period,” he added.
Hamilton Travel air product manager Katharine Dunwoodie said there would still be some good fares to Florida for this winter. “Certainly there is still loads of availability and we expect airlines to keep bringing out special fares,” she said.
At present, scheduled fares to Florida from October to mid-December lead in at £206. Cosmos is selling charter flights from £299 for travel from the end of November.
Unijet said charter seat-only specialists had not been forced to offer such big discounts this summer as there was less capacity in the market than in 1998.
Unijet aviation director Claire Trevis said:”Charter capacity was reduced because of all the consolidation that has been going on in the seat-only market over the past months.
“I couldn’t say how many charter seats went out of the market, but there were definitely less than last summer.”
She said that, as a result, operators had managed to get close to the full price for seats to Orlando during July and August, which started at around £378 for an indirect flight or about £599 for a direct charter.
From next summer, there will be extra charter capacity to Florida as Cosmos is planning to increase the size of its programme.
The operator has already added extra flights from both Gatwick and Manchester over Easter to cater for an anticipated incr- ease in demandduring the holiday period.
Senior product manager David Binns said:”April has traditionally been a popular time to visit Florida and for 2000 the combination of a late Easter and the early May Bank Holiday has helped boost demand.”
Both Monarch and Britannia will give passengers the option of upgrading to a schedule-style service on Florida flights next summer after a good response to their new premium cabins this year.
Britannia’s 360 Premium and Monarch’s Premium services offer passengers extra legroom and an upgraded in-flight service. Its 360 Premium costs an extra £120 return, while Monarch charges an extra £99 for a seat in its Premium Cabin. Passengers who only want extra legroom can pay £60 return for Britannia’s 360 Extra service.
Spotlight on Florida market