Qantas and Jetstar will extend previously announced schedule changes across its international and domestic networks between July and September.
Qantas Group said it the action is to mitigate the continued impact of the conflict in the Middle East, including sustained high fuel costs, and respond to continued strong demand for travel to Europe.
Given fuel prices remain significantly elevated, the Group has extended previously announced schedule changes across its international and domestic network between July and September.
Airlines globally have reworked their schedules as the conflict continues in the Middle East, disrupting fuel supply. Brent crude climbed as high as $US126 a barrel this week, having traded at below $US70 before the war.
Yesterday, after a meeting between Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Chinese state-owned oil companies were given the green light to begin jet fuel export discussions with Australian buyers, according to and AFR report, an “important first step” towards restoring flows disrupted by the Middle East conflict.
International
Qantas said it will continue to redeploy some aircraft to operate more flights between Australia and Europe, providing Qantas customers already booked to travel on partner airlines with an alternative option should they wish to change.
Additional Perth-Rome flights have been extended another three months, until the end of October. Flights to Paris will revert to three return flights per week as planned in August and continue to operate from Sydney through Singapore. The changes will provide an additional 2,000 seats to and from Europe each week.
Qantas and Jetstar have also reduced capacity on other markets. This includes Qantas’ Sydney to Bengaluru service being temporarily suspended from August and resuming at the end of October, while both carriers have reduced capacity across the Tasman.
Together these changes reduce previously planned Group International capacity by 2 percentage points for 1Q27.
Domestic
The Group has extended previously announced capacity reductions of 5 percentage points until the end of September, predominantly on Qantas and Jetstar flights on major capital city routes.
Customers booked on flights impacted by schedule changes are being contacted directly and offered alternative flights or a refund.
