Cheaper airfares there if you're 'willing to hunt', Qantas CEO insists

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says cheaper airfares are there for those "willing to hunt" for them, the day after the airline posted a record half-year profit of $1.4 billion.

Joyce told Today the airline was back to pre-COVID-19 performance levels.

"Yesterday we made announcements of investment in lounges and new seats, and we went on a massive sale - one million seats from $39 with Jetstar from Melbourne, to Sydney, to the Gold Coast, $200 to Honolulu, and $99 domestically on Qantas," he said.

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"Today we are going to put a lot of the frequent flyer classic rewards seats up for sale from 11am."

Nonetheless, Qantas said yesterday that fares were not expected to drop back to pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

"All the airlines are getting back from having all their aircraft in storage during COVID-19," Joyce said.

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"It takes a lot of training, a lot of maintenance on the aircraft, it takes a lot of hiring of people who have left the industry."

He acknowledged that "high fares" were still in place for special events and peak travel times.

"But if you're willing to hunt for those airfares, there's a lot of really good value," Joyce said.

"This year alone, Jetstar is going to 10 million airfares below $100 and two million airfares below $100, and two million airfares below $200."

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