Line graph — Airline ticket prices between Sydney and Melbourne over a two-week period

The line graph shows how the price of a one-way ticket from Sydney to Melbourne on a single airline varied from day to day over a fortnight, with figures given for economy and business class in Australian dollars.

Overall, neither fare rose or fell over the two weeks; instead both followed a weekly cycle, climbing steeply towards the weekend and returning to a lower level in the middle of the week. Business class was several times more expensive than economy at every point.

Economy fares stayed within a narrow band of 88 to 95 dollars on most weekdays, bottoming out at 88 dollars on the third day. Prices then shot up towards the end of each week, reaching 152 dollars on the first Saturday and 164 dollars on the second Friday, the highest figure recorded. In both weeks the fare fell back sharply on the Sunday and Monday that followed.

Business class mirrored this pattern almost exactly. It hovered between 330 and 340 dollars mid-week and spiked to 418 and 436 dollars on the same two peak days. Because the increases were proportionally smaller, the gap between the two classes narrowed at the weekend, from roughly 3.7 times the economy price to about 2.7 times.