Qantas and Jetstar scrap five routes and blame soaring jet fuel prices amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East

Qantas has announced it will raise fares, reduce its domestic capacity and change its international flight network after the US-Iran conflict caused a spike in global oil prices.

The airline and its budget arm Jetstar have scrapped five routes, with more likely, amid the ongoing fuel hikes – a move one state premier labelled ‘opportunistic’.

Jetstar on Tuesday announced it would suspend flights from Sydney to Busselton, a coastal town in southwest WA, until at least September. The flight opened in 2024 and was popular among tourists and fly-in, fly-out workers.

The airline group now expects to spend as much as $3.3 billion on jet fuel in the first half of 2025/26, up from an original estimate of $2.5 billion.

A Qantas update earlier claimed fuel price hikes, triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the conflict in the Middle East, had increased costs by between $600million and $800million.

The massive increase in overhead would mean a 5 per cent reduction in domestic services across Qantas and Jetstar in May and June. The majority of those cuts will be between major cities.

The Sydney to Busselton route, which sees three flights per week, was the only WA route suspended across Qantas and Jetstar. But Qantas’s Adelaide to Mount Gambier service will get the chop from Saturday. 

The other routes that have been temporarily suspended are between Melbourne and Hamilton Island, Melbourne and Coffs Harbour, and Darwin and the Gold Coast.

Fares are also expected to jump to help cover the higher fuel costs but it is unclear by how much. 

WA Premier Roger Cook said he was disappointed and surprised by the decision to end flights between Busselton and Sydney until September 22.

‘My understanding is that Qantas had said they’ve made this decision on the basis of fuel supply,’ he said, The Age reported.

‘This is the same airline that is very happy to jack up prices whenever it suits them, regardless of the supply of fuel, so I’m not quite sure why they would make that decision, which I consider quite bizarre.

‘Quite frankly, there’s plenty of fuel coming into the country.

‘The problem is affordability. So it sounds like it’s a bit of an opportunistic decision by Qantas to cut those flights.

‘It’s time that we should all be working together, supporting our tourism industry, not walking away from them.’

A Qantas Group spokeswoman told the outlet there was not enough demand to support the flights out to Busselton.

‘We know this is frustrating for customers and we look forward to restarting the service later this year,’ she said.

‘Impacted customers will be contacted directly and rebooked on available services via alternative domestic cities or given the option of a refund if they no longer wish to travel.

‘The group continues to closely monitor the impact from the conflict in the Middle East and may further adjust capacity and fares over time.’

Qantas and Jetstar customers with future bookings on cancelled flights are being contacted about alternative options or a refund.

Most of those affected would be offered other flights on the same day as their original booking, the airline said.

It is working with the government and jet fuel suppliers to ensure access to the commodity, although it expects no potential disruptions until well into May.

Qantas, which does not fly to the Middle East, is also seeing more demand for international travel to Europe as customers seek alternative routes.

It is redeploying capacity from the US and its domestic network to increase flights to Paris and Rome.

Qantas said it was closely monitoring the situation and had the option to take further action to mitigate fuel cost increases.

Qantas has hedged 90 per cent of its exposure to crude oil costs but, like most airlines, it remains exposed to the cost of refining crude oil into jet fuel.

Refining costs have soared from about $US20 a barrel in February to a peak of around $US120, Qantas said.

Air New Zealand, Air India and Delta Airlines have also reduced capacity in recent days, citing surging jet fuel costs.

Daily Mail has contacted Jetstar for further comment.