Denver’s average domestic airfares dropped 14 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the same period a year ago — from $320.78 to $276 — more than the record-setting national average, according to a federal report released Wednesday.
Analysts predict ticket prices for flights into and out of Denver will remain lower than the national average for the foreseeable future.
“People in Denver should be dancing in the streets,” said Tom Parsons of , noting the competition among United, Frontier and Southwest.
In comparison, U.S. domestic airfares dropped a record 13 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008, the report by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics said.
The largest fare decrease in a city was 38.7 percent in Cincinnati.
The 13 percent drop exceeded the last big price drop of 11.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2000 to the fourth quarter of 2001, which took place after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the report notes.
The U.S. average second-quarter fare — $301 — was almost equal to the second-quarter average fare from 1998, the bureau said.
Parsons believes fares will remain low, with “blasts of cheap airfares once in a while.” He pointed to the 72-hour sale launched Tuesday by Southwest that offers one-way flights for as little as $25 for travel in December and January.
Fare hikes lie ahead if oil prices continue to rise, said Robert Polk, chief executive of Polk Majestic Travel Group of Denver.
Still, Polk said, fares in Denver won’t rise “near as rapidly as the rest of the country, or at all, as long as United, Frontier and Southwest continue to wage war against each other.”
The average domestic airline ticket bought at Polk’s agency in the first nine months of 2009 cost $343, compared with $373 last year, he said.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
