On back of strong demand from holiday makers and vacationers, airlines are expected to continue raising ticket prices, in a move which is sure to help the ailing sector recover from one of the worst global recessions that the world has ever seen.

Travel agents have reported a huge jump in bookings during the pre-Christmas period, as more confident customers look to make the most of the heavily discounted fares being offered everywhere.

With a stronger demand, Qantas, Jetstar, and Singapore Airlines-owned Tiger Airways are also adding more capacity to more sought after routes and pulling the same back from routes where the demand is low.

''What we're seeing, I think, is the airlines pushing for yield in the holiday period. f consumers are expecting those sort of [heavily discounted] levels to re-emerge over January-February, I don't think there is any likelihood of that", said Managing Director of the travel website Webjet, David Clarke.

It has been estimated that ticket prices could hike by up-to 10% by April, which would be in addition to a 7% rise in fares over the past few months.