Qantas and Jetstar have announced they are extending cuts to domestic flights by three months as the fuel crisis caused by the Iran war continues to send shockwaves through the travel industry.
The national carrier said it was extending its 5 per cent cut in domestic capacity until September.
The airline had previously announced the plan to implement the cuts from May, which were originally scheduled to end in June.
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The cuts will predominantly impact Qantas and Jetstar flights on major capital city routes, the airline said.
International travel cuts will also be extended, with Qantas and Jetstar reducing flights to New Zealand.
The airline said it will redeploy some of its international fleet to align with a capacity decline of 2 percentage points in the first quarter of 2027.
“The Qantas Group continues to take action to mitigate the impact of the conflict in the Middle East, including sustained high fuel costs, and respond to continued strong demand for travel to Europe,” the company said.
“Given fuel prices remain significantly elevated, the group has extended previously announced schedule changes across its international and domestic network between July and September.”
The airline released a 2026 market outlook update earlier in April, saying jet fuel prices have more than doubled since the first outlook was released earlier in the year and remain “highly volatile”.
Qantas said in the outlook that they had taken “action to mitigate the impact of the conflict in the Middle East” which included international network changes, capacity adjustments and fare increases.
The airline said its fuel bill is forecast to increase by between $600 million and $800 million in the first half of this year.
“Qantas will continue to redeploy some aircraft to operate more flights between Australia and Europe, providing Qantas customers already booked to travel on partner airlines with an alternative option should they wish to change,” the airline said.
Additional Qantas flights from Perth-Rome have also been extended another three months, until the end of October.
Flights to Paris will revert to three return flights per week as planned in August and continue to operate from Sydney through Singapore.
The changes are said to provide an additional 2000 seats to and from Europe each week.
