Report to the Antitrust Authority on Volotea's price adjustments

It is from the National Consumers' Union one of the first reports made to the Antitrust Authority (Agcm) to verify the appropriateness of requests for a fuel surcharge on airline tickets. According to reports in Il Sole 24 Ore, the Consumers' Union has asked the Antitrust Authority to verify the basis and legitimacy of the request made by Volotea, a Spanish low-cost carrier, to adjust the cost of the ticket according to fluctuations in the barrel of Brent. On the company's website there is a 'Fair travel promise' (https://www.volotea.com/it/condizioni-legali/impegno-per-un-viaggio-equo-voe/) in which the company recalls the situation in the Middle East and that it has activated the 'Fair travel promise' to all customers who have booked a flight from 16 March 2026. This is a check, 7 days before departure, of the fuel market prices. If they go up an adjustment will be requested, if they go down the difference will be refunded. The starting point is a Brent price between $65.01 and $75.00. In the last six months the lowest price was recorded in the weeks before Christmas 2025 when quotations hovered around USD 60.00. By the beginning of January, the price had peaked above $60 and on 9 March it reached a record high of $119.50.

The table prepared by Volotea shows some price ranges with the corresponding contribution. In the last hours of Friday 17 April, Brent was trading below $88 due to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, for which the Spanish company could ask for a contribution of €10 per passenger. The Volotea website specifies that 'The adjustment will be limited to the actual impact of this increase on the cost of fuel' and 'In order to ensure transparency and allow you to anticipate the potential impact on the price of your ticket, we have established both a maximum and minimum adjustment amount. The adjustment can vary from +€14 to -€14 per ticket'.

The National Consumers' Union in its report would put forward several doubts such as, for example, the 'Fair travel promise' policy because it is not a travel promise but a surcharge asked of those who have already purchased the ticket. The content of the table published by Volotea would also be misleading because the price base, between $65 and $75 where no adjustment is applied would be arbitrary and deceptive. Moreover, the reference index used is not clearly specified. In this request there would also be several deficiencies in the area of professional diligence, fairness and good faith that the Antitrust Authority should verify.