Qantas to raise fares, cut flights
Expect to see fewer flights and higher prices as Qantas is hit by increases in fuel costs.
By Bloomberg News, May 27 2022
Qantas is pushing up fares and making deeper cuts to scheduled flights in Australia to offset months of higher fuel costs.
A sustained increase in fuel prices means Qantas needs to “rebalance capacity and fares,” the airline said on Thursday.
Domestic services in July and August will fall to 103% of pre-Covid levels from 107%. Qantas had already cut flying in Australia next quarter to 110% of pre-pandemic volumes from a planned 115%.
However, the airline didn’t elaborate on airfare changes.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent oil prices soaring, with crude above US$100 a barrel for the majority of the time since early March.
Cutting flights means Qantas can fill more of the seats on its remaining services, driving up revenue on those routes without buying much additional fuel.
Every US$4 jump in the oil price adds 1% to air fares, Qantas has said.
Qantas enjoyed a boom in domestic travel across late 2021-early 2022 as state border restrictions dropped while uncertainly remained over many international destinations, along with abnormally high prices on overseas routes.
However, many international destinations remain off the card for now. Qantas has several times pushed back the restart of flights to San Francisco, which now are now earmarked for October 2022, while ongoing restrictions in Japan and Hong Kong continue to frustrate the carrier.
This article is published under license from Bloomberg Media: the original article can be viewed here
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1209
Who at Qantas thinks using double-speak like "rebalance fares" is an appropriate way to communicate anything? Surely you can't expect customers to respect the organisation if you can't be honest and straightforward in how you talk to them.
22 Feb 2022
Total posts 5
And yet Qantas still sits on millions of dollars of customers' payments that are due to be refunded under the Covid-affected cancellation program - and its been months and months for people waiting to get their money.
So either Qantas is short of cash, or it's just scalping customers as a first resort approach to business.
Either way, it doesn't show the national carrier in a great light......
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Sep 2015
Total posts 26
I would hazard a guess it will be a case of watch this space .... Qantas will start the ball rolling with fare increases and the others won't be far behind. Jane Hrdlicka is not foolish and will probably have no choice than to do the same. I can't imagine that REX are in any position to also not react to the rising fuel prices
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
08 Jun 2014
Total posts 168
SEEYA Qantas
Higher fares, poor customer service, fewer status credits, non-existent international redemptions.
I will not be chasing to renew my platinum status over the next 12 months, the value does not add up.
19 May 2014
Total posts 12
Didn't we see record profits when fuel prices were low because Qantas wanted to keep the cash, we didn't see them reduce prices then!!
If the fares increase now then I doubt they will ever go down again. Qantas will think of another excuse to keep them high
18 Mar 2022
Total posts 16
Yes, frustrating as it is dealing with the price of fuel it is something we cannot do without to keep the wheels turning or in this case the jet turbines spinning.
Do hope Qantas can get some more of these International destinations they keep talking about operational sooner rather than later. E.g. such as more U.S. & Canadian destinations.
13 May 2020
Total posts 801
winged warrior, you do know you can use qantas & now virgin points to fly from LAX (or any other the major airports in LA, Burbank, Long Beach, Ontario or John Wayne to almost anywhere in USA or Canada, even at xmas. Similarly from SFO, OAK or SJC.
18 Sep 2015
Total posts 127
Why are we not surprised. Normal Qantas behaviour. And so much for their much vaunted fuel hedging strategy.
13 May 2020
Total posts 801
qantas is pricing itself out of the market, with recession just around the corner. You can fly SYD/LAX direct Xmas & back mid January for $1500 on a better airline. That's return not one way.
25 Jun 2021
Total posts 29
Fuel is pre purchased around a year in advance they always have a excuse to rise it, when they could do so later in the year or even next year.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Oct 2016
Total posts 162
At least 80% of their fuel will be hedged, so they will be taking profit as a mark to market. That is all very fine, but your trading partners get pissed if you profit from their negative positions.
PS who else remembers when they had record losses due to poor hedges at QANTAS...
17 Jun 2020
Total posts 238
Will the higher prices mean baggage will arrive in the same week as the flight? And less than five hours on hold to a call centre?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
08 Mar 2022
Total posts 12
QF really needs to rethink its customer strategy. If VA plays its cards right I half expect it to become a Star Alliance member. Arguably QF's biggest competitive threat is SQ, a quality player here for redemptions and domestic earn will drive A LOT of premium flyers away from One World.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Oct 2012
Total posts 44
It's not only Australian flights impacted by price rises. I was looking at Qantas flights to Singapore around June / July and the cost for a biz return to around the same cost as I was able to book a return to LHR earlier this year. There's definitely a significant shift upwards in pricing.
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