Plane ticket costs actually fell by 2% in January, but this helped the overall inflation rate rise as it was a much smaller drop than is typical for January, and followed a large fall of 26% in December.
The Office for National Statistics said inflation lifted to the highest level since March last year, moving it further away from the Bank of England’s 2% target rate.
Other items, such as olive oil and potatoes, saw price rises but at a much slower rate than in previous months, putting downward pressure on the rate of inflation.
The Bank of England said earlier this month that it expects the rate of inflation to steadily rise to a peak of around 3.7% in late summer.
It sets the Bank of England, the UK’s central bank, a target to keep the inflation rate at 2%.
