Why are roundtrip international flights so much more expensive when you are only staying a short time (2-3 days) in the other country?

Question

Title. Why would it matter to the airline how long you’re waiting between the two flights on a roundtrip, even when you’re scheduling both flights well in advance?

In: Economics

Answer 1

It depends on the airline, and their rules. The old rules of “minimum stay” don’t seem to be as prevalent these days, but the idea was they were for business trips, important events etc so the airlines would charge more. You’d also have different fares for 30-60 day trips etc… but again, they’re less common these days, at least in the market I work in.
Source – Travel agent for 17 years.