Why is it so expensive to fly anywhere within the U.S. but so much cheaper to fly within and between European counties?
In: Economics
It heavily depends on the route. Some airports have very little competition, either because they’re hubs for only one airline or because they’re very small. But many competitive routes are very cheap.
You also have to compare similar airlines. In my experience, in-Europe flights on legacy carriers like Lufthansa aren’t any cheaper than domestic on Delta in the US. But low-cost carriers like Ryanair and easyjet have become very common in Europe, driving prices down. In the US, you can fly Frontier or Spirit, frequently for like $30 as a base fare, and get a similar experience. It’s just that these airlines don’t fly as many places direct or have flights as frequently, so you’re often looking at a 14 hour overnight layover in Denver to get that cheap fare.
Europe’s train network helps here too, since you can connect a flight and a train to get to a medium size city a few hours away from a large one, where in the US you’ll need a connecting flight. The trains also lower demand on shorter routes.
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