Comment on Airfares are lower than usual right now — but prices won’t stay down for long

The nation’s airlines are sweating over an unexpected drop in business travel in the last few weeks — and that’s welcome news if you’re a traveler looking to save money. This month, domestic airfares are down 5 percent from September 2019 and international fares down about 8 percent, drops that industry experts attribute partly to the traditional price slump that happens at the end of the peak summer travel season plus the rise in coronavirus cases due to the Delta variant, according to the travel website Hopper. Prices for flights to Europe are at a five-year low, down more than 30 percent compared with the same month in 2019, according to the travel website. But the discounted prices are not expected to last long, with increases likely when travelers start booking holiday trips. “Everything we are seeing says people are definitely going to be traveling,” said Adit Damodaran, an economist for Hopper. The airfare roller coaster shows how the pandemic continues to affect the nation’s $1.5-trillion travel and hospitality industry.