Qantas may not have succumbed to pressure and lowered its fuel surcharges, but it has launched a major sale that will see travellers save up to $374 on flights to LA.
The sale comes less than 24 hours after Virgin Australia announced it would no longer charge a separate fuel surcharge on flights to America. Instead, the cost would be incorporated into the base fare.
Commencing today, the surcharge drop will align the US fares with the rest of the Virgin Australia network fares.
It includes reward seats offered via its Velocity Frequent Flyer program for flights originating in Australia, which currently do not attract a fuel surcharge.
The reduction will see round trip fares to the US drop by $40 for economy and premium economy; and $50 in business class.
“Virgin Australia has monitored the reduction in fuel prices over recent months and, in anticipation that fuel costs will continue to remain at lower levels than the record highs seen in recent years.”
Virgin Australia
The fare reduction was welcomed by the industry, with Flight Centre Travel Group managing director Graham Turner seeing the benefit it will have on Australian leisure and corporate travellers.
“It creates a cleaner and more transparent fare structure for the future and delivers immediate benefits to customers in the form of cheaper fares for travellers taking off to the United States.”
Graham Turner, Flight Centre Travel Group managing director
AFTA chief executive Jayson Westbury also congratulated the airline, and said it will not only simply the booking process for agents, but increase fare transparency for travellers.
“With the amount of additional taxes imposed on air tickets by governments and other additional changes that form part of a ticket, it is pleasing to see the removal of this add on and calculated into the base fare by Virgin Australia.”
Jayson Westbury, AFTA chief executive
Following the announcement, the industry turned to see how Qantas would respond.
A Qantas spokesperson said the airline already includes its fuel surcharges in the advertised price – prices the carrier says are already extremely competitive.
“We continue to monitor surcharges but the bottom line for consumers is that Qantas fares already in the market are some of the cheapest in years. For instance, the price of a fare to London is about 30 percent lower than it was 10 years ago, adjusted for inflation.”
Qantas spokesperson
However, the airline did decide to launch an international sale to make fares even more competitive.
The year-round Sydney to LA, Brisbane to LA, and Melbourne to LA fares have dropped down to $1,290.
Sydney or Melbourne to London tickets are now $1,755 – a saving of $511.
While, Sydney or Melbourne to Tokyo fares decreased by $260 to $999.
If your clients are planning a trip to Hong Kong, then they can pick up a ticket from Brisbane for $799 – down $144; and from Sydney or Melbourne to Singapore it’s now $649 – a drop of up to $$349.