Still not booked to go to next week’s IATA Slot Conference in Copenhagen? Check out our fares analysis!

The 132nd IATA Slot Conference takes place next week in Copenhagen, and in case you haven’t yet booked your flights anna.aero has conducted an analysis of return air fares from some of Europe’s leading cities. We chose major cities that were served by more than one airline with at least daily flights; Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Helsinki, London, Oslo, Paris, Rome and Zurich. Fares were determined based on the following assumptions:

• Arrival in Copenhagen on Wednesday 19 June, preferably in late afternoon.
• Departing Copenhagen on Saturday 22 June, preferably in late morning or early afternoon.
• One piece of hold baggage taken in both directions.
• Cheapest available economy fare selected.
• Fare data was collected on Tuesday 11 June.
• Fares were obtained in a variety of currencies (depending on the airline) and then converted to Euros using current exchange rates (Source: xe.com).

With most airlines operating multiple daily flights, some flexibility was allowed to try and find a balance between schedule quality and price, though this is clearly a subjective issue. Our downloadable spreadsheet makes it clear which flights were selected for each airline, on each route.

LCCs confirm their advantage over legacy rivals

On the whole fares and rankings reflected what might be expected based on the reputation and cost-structure of the airlines, with LCCs (easyJet, Norwegian and Vueling) being cheaper than their legacy rivals. The table also includes sector length and a column that calculates cost (in Euros) per kilometre flown. Over reasonably short-haul sectors within Europe, airline costs do not increase in a linear fashion with sector length, so comparing these figures across different length routes would be unwise.

• Amsterdam: SAS beats KLM, as Norwegian misses out because of a lack of a Saturday service on this route.
• Barcelona: Norwegian and Vueling both offer great fares considering the sector length, but Vueling is cheaper.
• Berlin: Norwegian again misses out due to a lack of a Saturday service, and easyJet easily beats airberlin and SAS.
• Brussels: SAS beats Star Alliance partner Brussels Airlines.
• Düsseldorf: Not much to choose between SAS and airberlin, but SAS just wins out.
• Frankfurt: Lufthansa beats Star Alliance partner SAS though both are expensive.
• Helsinki: SAS beats Finnair as Norwegian again misses out due to a lack of a Saturday service.
• London: easyJet and Norwegian are half the price of British Airways and SAS.
• Oslo: SAS competes aggressively with Norwegian, and narrowly beats its Scandinavian rival.
• Paris: An easy win for easyJet with SAS beating an outrageously expensive Air France.
• Rome: SAS tries valiantly to compete with its two low-cost rivals, but easyJet and Norwegian both offer excellent value on this long route.
• Zurich: Star Alliance partners SAS and SWISS offer different fares for the same flights with SWISS being the cheaper option.

In terms of price per kilometre flown Barcelona offers the best value with easyJet and Norwegian, though this is also the longest route. However, the fares offered by these carriers on this route are still less than half of what SAS is charging on the Frankfurt route, which is less than half the distance.