The era of travel in europe, when it comes to leaving, is completely over。
01
"do you know a reliable ticket or tmc to help with cheap european tickets?"
Two days ago, a-gun dragged his tired voice in search of urgent help。
King a is the founder of a small domestic company in the category of tourism trade, with major customers in europe。
The sudden outbreak of fighting in the middle east had disrupted his planned intensive travel to europe。
Worse still, with severe restrictions on the middle east air hubs, such as dubai, abu dhabi and doha, which serve as the hub for central european air traffic, a large number of flights between central europe transiting those cities, either cancelled or delayed, resulting in direct flights from central europe becoming the only air bridge that remains stable between the two continents。
The problem is that the price of direct flights in central europe has soared with short-term demand。
A-gun complains that his direct flight from beijing to frankfurt cost only about $6,000 last year, but that the same flight has now skyrocketed by more than $20,000 and the most expensive direct flight is $50,000。
Even if a-gon dhoun were to find some air tickets to europe from a safe country, the price would be 15,000-2000。
02
How crazy is the sharp increase in air fare prices in central europe
“in the case of direct flights from central europe, for example, the overall economy-class fare has increased by 50-150 per cent.”
Zheng, who is the head of the well-known tmc in the country, has revealed that far-off air fares for direct flights in central europe are still rising, and that some hot-line flights have increased dramatically, such as:
Part of the flight fares on the beijing-frankfurt, paris and amsterdam routes rose from $6,000 to $8,000 directly to $16,000 to 20000。
The direct flight route from south china, such as shenzhen-london, to central europe has also generally doubled the price of air tickets。
In the major social media, complaints about the cost of round-trip tickets in central europe have been widespread since march, with complaints coming out, especially from many of the already difficult travel parties。
There are travelers, chinese tourists who travel to europe, who see airline tickets soar; but the chinese travelers who do business in europe are hard-headed。
A groaned that he had to appear in one of europe's major cities this mid-month, meeting a large local customer who had been following him for six months. If you do not go on your own, the business will probably be lost; if you do, the return ticket alone will be $230,000 more than the budget。
"we're small companies, and that's enough to pay an employee a month." a lamented that it was easier for the travelers who were in large domestic factories, after all, that the cost of the skyrocketed airline tickets was ultimately paid by the company。
But for the travel party of small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) who travel to and from central europe for a long time, the sharp increase in airline fares is a disaster, pushing them into a strange dilemma:
Insisting on travelling to europe has the potential to do so in vain; without going to europe, many businesses have no business。
It's embarrassing。
03
The blockage of the central european route has dramatically increased pressure on domestic service providers to travel to the tmc。
In order to help clients solve their problems quickly, the tmc has also produced 18 martial arts skills, and z has shared a case with a powerful traveller。
At the beginning of the middle east war, the european journey of one of the business leaders he had been serving for many years was disrupted by a line that involved a number of business talks in several european countries, and when the trip was interrupted, not only the cost of air tickets, but also a range of opportunities for business cooperation。
Dubai night vision/gross travelers
When the client was anxious to contact zjun, the latter arranged a response with colleagues overnight, re-engineered the travel programme within two hours, and eventually designed a new programme, with zurich as the hub, with high european iron connections, to ensure the travel of clients。
Z has been saying that if the cost of air tickets for central europe were to rise in a short period of time, both the company and the tmc would have been able to bear the burden, except in view of the current escalation of the middle east war, which is not ending, and which is expected to affect central europe’s routes for at least three months. According to this estimate, the cost of air tickets on the central european route may have been maintained at a high level throughout the first half of 2026 and even during the summer holidays, thus contributing to higher prices in the upper and lower parts of the travel industry chain。
In fact, the overall price of packaged products currently represented by europe's “airfare plus hotel” has increased by 30 to 60 per cent, raising the cost of business travel。
“in both years, domestic firms have reduced their efficiency gains and their travel budgets have been cut down again and again, and even once the vast internet giants have begun to fine-tune.” zheng explained that the next change in europe’s declining travel budget on the one hand, and the rising cost of european travel on the other, would drive the domestic travel party crazy, while at the same time making the tmc’s days worse。
It is even more worrying to z that, in the aftermath of the middle east war, the travel strategy of more chinese enterprises involved in european operations is likely to change significantly, with once-unpredicted “politico-political risks” moving from the edge of decision-making to the centre of decision-making, with businesses giving greater consideration to security and stability in travel, and that travel budgets will be reallocated。
04
In response to changes in corporate travel strategies and budgets, the tmcs had to adapt their service strategies。
“it is imperative to go to europe to rob resources.”
If the tmc is to continue to obtain orders from chinese companies involved in these operations in europe, it will have to work in depth with domestic and foreign shipping divisions, european airports, hotels, and local operators, to secure exclusive resources and exclusive policies from them, so as to ensure that they remain responsive in the event of an emergency。
Zheng further stated that the middle east war had indirectly accelerated the shuffle and fragmentation of china's tmc。
This industry, which had been mired in low prices, is now in a vagaries of international conditions that have transformed the tmc from “low-price competition, cost-control” price competition to “security, risk management, global emergency response, resource consolidation” competition。
“the next two months will be the peak of the impact of this middle east war on the routes of central europe, where flight stability and price pressures will be greatest.” if the situation subsided before the summer, central europe’s route is expected to be gradually restored in the third quarter of this year; if the situation deteriorates, central europe’s route will be covered by clouds throughout the year, with the inevitable impact on chinese businesses’ travel to europe, and even a change in europe’s operational configuration。
"looking forward to everything getting better as soon as possible."。
05
A-gon eventually managed to buy a ticket to europe, although the price was not much cheaper than he expected。
He laughed and tried。
He eventually chose to keep his european clients in comparison to that fare, and although it might be hard this year to count, business is still on the line and cash is still running。
“travelers who do international trade, geopolitics is a mandatory course that cannot escape. It's just that doing business in the future does have to think about it a little bit more, so that it doesn't go so far.” a mocks himself。
This geopolitically induced increase in airline tickets may eventually fade away。
But the legacy of this event will certainly change the european business logic of many chinese enterprises。
For the domestic travel party, the european travel era was over。
Anyone who can plan smarter and respond more flexibly in the future can be more proactive in changing circumstances。
