Having already confirmed increased fares on international services within two weeks of the conflict beginning, in a market update released this morning, Qantas says it will cut domestic capacity in quarter four by about five per cent.
Those affected by flight cancellations on both Qantas and Jetstar services are being offered alternative flights or refunds.
The airline has also confirmed it has stripped capacity out of its US and domestic services to beef up services to both Paris and Rome. This helps compensate for the loss of air capacity to Europe via Middle Eastern hubs on other carriers.
Qantas also said that the margin on refining jet fuel had risen by up to six fold since the start of the conflict in the Middle East and that it had adjusted its forecast fuel costs for the second half of the 2026 financial year upwards by up to $800 million. The airline now expects to spend up to $3.3 billion on fuel in six months.
Although Qantas says fuel suppliers have provided confidence in the airline’s fuel supply through April and “well into May”, the carrier has not ruled out further measures to compensate for rising fuel costs and says it is “closely monitoring the situation given the ongoing uncertainty in global fuel supply chains”.
Qantas has also modified its non-stop service between Perth and London to add a fuel stop in Singapore due to adjustments in the flight path.
Meanwhile Virgin Australia has continued to cancel all of its services between Australia and Doha in Qatar due to the conflict, with no services running until at least the middle of June.
