World

Qantas hikes fares as fuel costs surge on Mideast war

By AAP Newswire

Mar 10, 2026

A Qantas aircraft takes off from Sydney — Qantas is raising international fares as fuel prices take off due to the US-Israeli war on Iran. -AAP Image

Qantas Airways will hike fares on its international routes in response to ‌the surge in jet fuel costs due to the conflict in ‌the Middle East.

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The Australian flag carrier also said it was considering adding capacity on its existing Europe routes in the coming months.

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.

Airfares on Asia-Europe routes have already spiked due to airspace closures and capacity constraints.

Air New Zealand, Qantas's rival, ⁠also announced earlier on Tuesday broad increases to ticket prices, one of the first airlines to do so ‌since the start of the war.

Qantas said in a statement to Reuters that flights on its European routes were operating as scheduled and were more than 90 per cent full in March, about 15 percentage points above typical levels for ‌this time of year.

"More customers have also been choosing to travel to Europe via the United States, other Asian cities, and Johannesburg, connecting through Qantas' partner airline network," Qantas said.

"We are exploring options to redeploy capacity into Europe on existing routes in ⁠the coming months."