Australia’s Qantas Airways and Air New Zealand said on Tuesday (Mar 10) they are hiking fares due to the Middle East conflict, underscoring how global airlines are struggling to cope with the sudden and soaring costs of fuel.
Jet fuel prices, which were around US$85 to US$90 per barrel prior to the conflict, have increased sharply to between US$150 and US$200 per barrel in recent days, New Zealand’s flag carrier said, adding it was suspending its financial outlook for 2026 due to uncertainty over the conflict.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has sent oil prices surging, upending global travel and sparking fears of a deep travel slump and the potential for the widespread grounding of planes.
Highlighting the chaos around Middle Eastern airspace, planes arriving into Dubai were briefly placed in a holding pattern on Tuesday morning due to a potential missile attack, flight tracking service Flightradar24 said on X. The planes eventually landed.
Qantas said that in addition to increasing international fares, it was exploring options to redeploy capacity to Europe as airlines and passengers seek to evade disruptions in the Middle East, where drone and missile fire have curtailed flights.
The Australian airline said its flights to Europe are more than 90 per cent full in March, compared to the usual 75 per cent at this time of year.
Airfares have soared on Asia-Europe routes due to airspace closures and capacity constraints, and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways said on Tuesday it was adding extra flights to London and Zurich in March.
Air New Zealand said it had raised one-way economy fares by NZ$10 (US$6) on domestic routes, NZ$20 on short-haul international services and NZ$90 on long-haul flights, with further price, network and schedule changes possible if jet fuel costs remain elevated.
Hong Kong Airlines said on its website it would raise its fuel surcharges by up to 35.2 per cent from Thursday, with the sharpest increase on flights between Hong Kong and the Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal where charges will rise to HK$384 (US$49) from HK$284.
Cathay Pacific said it reviewed its fuel surcharges on a monthly basis. It kept them flat last month at US$72.90 each way on flights between Hong Kong and Europe and North America before the conflict began.
Vietnam Airlines has asked local authorities to remove an environmental tax on jet fuel to help it maintain operations.
The Southeast Asian nation’s government said Vietnamese airlines’ operating costs have risen 60 per cent to 70 per cent due to the rise in jet fuel prices and fuel suppliers were facing difficulties in meeting airline demand.
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