9 Oct 2008

Qantas cuts fuel surcharges

4:47 pm on 9 October 2008

Qantas is lowering its fuel surcharges on international flights from Thursday in response to falling oil prices.

Executive general manager John Borghetti says flights from Australia to New Zealand will now be $A5 cheaper.

Surcharges on flights from Australia to the UK and Europe will be cut by $A20 to $A190.

Surcharges on flights to the United States, Canada, South America, South Africa and India will be $A15 lower at $A150.

Surcharges on flights to Asia will be cut by $A10 to $A110.

Domestic fares will also be reduced by 2% to 3%.

Mr Borghetti says Qantas's fuel bill for the 2008/09 fiscal year would be $A1.3 billion higher than the previous year.

The airline says the decision is unrelated to negative publicity surrounding an incident where a jet enroute from Singapore to Perth was forced to make an emergency landing after losing altitude.