Flights for holidays during the half term are an average of 42% more expensive than they were prior to the coronavirus pandemic, new analysis has revealed.

Consumer group Which? warned the typical price of a one-way ticket during the school holiday in October booked six months, three months and six weeks in advance was £212.

The cost over the same period in 2019 was just £150.

Rising fuel costs, huge demand from a lack of travelling, and airport passenger caps have all been blamed for the increase in prices.

Which? analysed prices from data company Skytra for flights from six of England’s busiest airports – Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Luton and Birmingham – to six popular destinations, which were Alicante, Antalya, Dubai, Dublin, Malaga and Tenerife.

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The largest price hike was on flights from Heathrow to Tenerife.

Passengers booking six weeks before departure paid an average of £262 more each way than in 2019, adding £2,096 to the cost of a holiday for a family of four, according to Which?.

Flights from Gatwick to Dublin booked at the same time increased from £42 in 2019 to £160 this year.

Many holidaymakers suffered from flight cancellations and long queues at airports during the first half of the year due to staff shortages across the aviation industry.

Guy Hobbs, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Travellers have had a torrid time this year and our analysis shows they’re paying through the nose for their trouble.

“With fares so high, it’s even more important that airports and airlines are held to account for the unacceptable disruption travellers have faced.

“The Government should give the Civil Aviation Authority stronger powers so it can hit operators with heavy fines when they flout the rules.”