Qantas Airways Ltd. 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 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%.
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 $4 jump in the oil price adds 1% to air fares, Qantas has said.
Qantas rose as much as 2.6% Thursday. The shares are up about 9% this year.