The nationalities able to book the cheapest flights – where does the UK rank?

Gavin Haines, Travel writer 1 June 2017 • 5:07pm

This nation offers the world's cheapest air fares, but where is it? Credit: AP/FOTOLIA

A new report has crowned Malaysia the world’s cheapest country for air fares.

The annual Flight Price Index, published by Kiwi.com, claims the south-east Asian nation offers the best opportunities for affordable air travel.

Bulgaria offers the cheapest flights in Europe (pictured: the city of Plovdiv) — Bulgaria offers the cheapest flights in Europe (pictured: Plovdiv) Credit: AP/FOTOLIA

Bulgaria was the world’s second cheapest country for air fares – and therefore the cheapest in Europe – followed by India in third place.

The Flight Price Index looks at the average cost of air travel in 80 countries and charts year-on-year fluctuations. The reports claims the UK is the 27th cheapest, an improvement on last year when it was ranked 32nd.

Flight Price Index 2017

Malaysia – £3.24 per 100km
Bulgaria – £3.61
India – £3.85
Turkey – £4.87
Romania – £5.01
Indonesia – £5.03
Portugal – £5.04
Thailand – £5.23
Sweden – £5.40
Spain – £5.49

The ranking is just part of the story, though. The index also drills down into the cost of domestic flights, full service domestic flights, international flights and full service international flights, which are aggregated to work out the overall average.

So while Malaysia is the most affordable country overall for air fares, Romania actually offers the cheapest domestic flights (£2.36 per 100km) while Sweden offers the cheapest international fares (£1.02 per 100km).

Cheapest for non-serviced domestic flights

Romania – £2.36 per 100km
Bulgaria – £2.47
Philippines – £2.74
Moldova – £2.74
Malaysia – £2.78
UK – £2.87
India – £3.01
Portugal – £3.07
Brazil – £3.08
Thailand – £3.11

Perhaps the biggest year-on-year change came from Turkey, which rose a staggering 54 places in the index, taking it to fourth overall.

“Ticket prices are always fluctuating for different reasons,” said Oliver Dlouhý, Kiwi.com CEO. “Some of the changes from one year to the next can be attributed to factors from fuel prices to socio-political shifts such as Brexit and general elections. Egypt and Turkey, for example, saw a decrease in ticket prices because of a decrease in demand as a result of regional turmoil.”

Cheapest for non-serviced international flights

Sweden – £1.02 per 100km
Norway – £1.11
Spain – £1.33
Malaysia –£1.40
Lithuania – £1.46
Denmark – £1.50
Bulgaria – £1.50
China – £1.55
Poland – £1.74
Finland – £1.81

According to the index, the best air fares in Western Europe can be found in Portugal (average £5.04 per 100km) and Spain (average £5.49 per 100km), which are up to £3.50 cheaper per 100 km than flying from the UK (£8.58 per 100km).

Even more expensive than the UK, however, is flying from the Netherlands and Belgium, which is very costly with average flight prices as high as £42.56 and £42.65 per 100km respectively.