Qantas is running a large-scale domestic ticket sale just one week after slashing flights and axing four domestic routes amid heightened fuel prices.
One day after Virgin announced half-a-million one-way domestic tickets into NSW were on sale for as little as $55, Qantas has responded by slashing fares to as low as $99 for two million tickets on 90 routes.
The Qantas sale is for flights through to March 2027, including the June long weekend and winter school holidays.
One-way tickets going for $99 include flights from Byron Bay to Sydney, Adelaide to Melbourne, Launceston to Melbourne and the Gold Coast to Sydney. Perth to the Gold Coast and Perth to Sydney flights are also on sale for $309.
The sale also offers business class seats for $299 on routes including Brisbane to Sydney and Brisbane to Emerald.
A Qantas spokesperson said the sale included more connecting fares than typical domestic sales; 21 routes to the Gold Coast are subject to reduced fares. The sale begins on Tuesday and runs until Tuesday night next week.
Qantas Domestic chief executive Markus Svensson said flights to regional towns were a major part of the sale.
“Australians’ appetite for travel continues, and this sale is designed to support our customers planning their next trip around Australia over the next 12 months,” he said.
“We’ve just had a bumper Easter holidays with more than a million customers travelling around our domestic network, and this sale is timed for those planning where to head next.
“We have millions of discounted seats across more than 90 routes, including some of Australia’s most popular holiday destinations, from tropical beaches and much-loved regional towns to city escapes.”
The Virgin and Qantas sales come just one week after both airlines announced higher ticket costs and cuts to the number of flights because of the heightened cost of jet fuel.
Qantas told the Australian sharemarket that it was cutting “capacity” by 5 per cent across Qantas and Jetstar networks as fuel costs were expected to climb $800m in the second half of this financial year.
Most of the cuts were on routes between Australian capital cities, but four routes were suspended from May 18 to various dates in June, September and October; Melbourne to Hamilton Island, Melbourne to Coffs Harbour, Sydney to Busselton and Darwin to the Gold Coast were all axed.
Jetstar flights to New Zealand have been the main casualty at the budget airline.
Virgin Australia is facing a spike in fuel costs of $30m to $40m, the airline flagged last week. Virgin’s cutbacks represent about a 1 per cent scaling back over the course of three months, and a Virgin spokesperson told media last week that no routes would be axed entirely.
The price of jet fuel has increased as much as 150 per cent for buyers in Asia and Oceania since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, figures from the International Air Transport Association show.
Global prices have softened a touch in the past week, dipping 6.7 per cent, with a 4.5 per cent fall in Asia and Oceania.
