All the airlines that are cutting flights and adding fuel surcharges
Updated . First published
Air travel is going through a tricky patch at the moment.
Ongoing conflict has led to airspace closures and rising fuel costs, causing airlines to make changes across their network, from cancelling flights to increasing fares.
Qantas Group has just announced that it is extending its 'temporary' schedule changes to September this year.
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Air travel is volatile right now. Getty
"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 airline said in a press release.
It's hard to keep track of all the major changes happening across the globe. Here's a breakdown of what each airline is doing in response to the fuel crisis.
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Virgin Australia
Virgin is reducing its flight capacity by one per cent over the coming months in response to rising fuel prices.
This includes an indefinite suspension of the Adelaide to Cairns route from August and Alice Springs to Brisbane from July.
Seasonal flights between Darwin-Sydney and Uluru-Melbourne have also been reduced.
"These changes are designed to ensure Virgin Australia is flying where demand is strongest and on routes that are commercially viable, while maintaining our commitment to regional communities," said a Virgin spokesman.
Virgin and Qantas have both reduced their flights. Getty
Qantas
Australia's national carrier has cut domestic flights, increased fares, adjusted capacity and made changes to its international network.
The airline announced it has reduced domestic capacity by about 5 per cent for May and June.
Most of the cuts will be made on routes between major cities, which already have multiple flights per day on larger aircraft.
Qantas plans to cut 88 flights out of its Melbourne to Sydney service, 50 flights from its Sydney to Brisbane operations and 31 flights from Brisbane to Melbourne.
Flights from Perth to Sydney will be cut from 334 flights to 307, Melbourne to Adelaide from 384 to 361 and Brisbane to Adelaide from 246 to 234.
Qantas also announced the temporary suspension of the Melbourne-Coffs Harbour and Melbourne-Hamilton Island routes, and the indefinite pause of Adelaide-Mt Gambier.
All changes across the network will remain in place until September, it was announced on May 1.
Qantas' Sydney to Bengaluru service will also be temporarily suspended from August and resume at the end of October.
"Affected Qantas and Jetstar customers are being contacted directly and offered alternative flights or a refund," the airline said.
The airline reports it is still seeing high demand for flights to Europe that bypass stopovers in the Middle East. In response, it has redeployed aircraft from the US to increase flights to Paris and Rome.
These additional Europe flights have 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 will provide an additional 2,000 seats to and from Europe each week.
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Jetstar has slashed routes. Getty
Jetstar
Qantas' low-cost arm also announced cuts, including reductions in flights to New Zealand.
Some flights between Auckland and Sydney, and between Auckland and Brisbane, will be impacted from May.
Services within New Zealand, between Auckland and Christchurch, and between Auckland and Wellington, will also be reduced.
Domestic Australian routes have also been affected.
Jetstar announced the suspension of flights between Sydney and Busselton until September, and flights between Darwin and the Gold Coast until October.
Air New Zealand
The Kiwi carrier has slashed flights on its domestic network and was one of the first airlines to announce increased prices when the Middle East conflict broke out.
Air New Zealand is cutting approximately 4 per cent of its flights, but has stressed that this would affect only 1 per cent of its total passengers.
AirAsia X
The low-cost carrier connecting Australia to Asia has cut ten per cent of flights across its entire network. They've also increased prices by about 20 per cent as a response to rising fuel costs.
This includes the suspension of their Darwin to Kuala Lumpur route.
It has also cut flights from Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne and swapped out narrow-body planes for wide-body ones on its Perth-Kuala Lumpur route.
Flights to Doha have been reduced. Getty
Qatar Airlines
Initially, flights to Doha operated by Qatar on behalf of Virgin Australia were completely cancelled until mid-June.
They are slowly beginning to roll back these changes. Three-times-weekly services from Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney have all recommenced, with the Brisbane to Doha route set to return in May.
Doha-Adelaide will operate seasonally from 16 June to 14 September 2026, and its onward connection to Auckland will also be resumed.
The Canberra-Doha route is the only Aussie route that is still suspended.
Scoot
The Singapore-based low-cost airline has "moderated" Melbourne and Perth capacity, but will still operate plenty of flights.
There will be 37 flights to Melbourne per month (four fewer) and 47 to Perth per month (six fewer).
American Airlines
The US airline has introduced higher baggage fees to offset fuel costs.
There will be an increase of $10 each for the first and second checked bags and an increase of $150 for the third checked bag on domestic and short-haul international flights.
US airlines have introduced higher fees on checked baggage. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Cathay Pacific
The Hong Kong airline has cancelled about 2 per cent of its scheduled passenger flights, including some to Australia. Its budget arm, HK Express, has cut around 6 per cent of flights.
It also previously announced it would hike its fuel surcharge by 34 per cent across routes from April 1 and review them every two weeks.
Delta Air Lines
Delta is also increasing checked baggage costs - $10 more for the first and second bag, and a $50 increase on the third.
China Eastern
China Eastern has scrapped Sydney-Hangzhou and Sydney-Jinan routes from late April.
It has also slashed Wuhan-Sydney and Nanjing-Sydney services by 66 per cent and Nanjing-Melbourne flights from twice a week to once.
Meanwhile, they are adding thousands of flights to Europe in response to airspace closures in the Middle East.
Emirates
Emirates has implemented a reduced flight schedule to the Middle East from Australia, and is currently operating at 70 per cent of its regular timetable.
Customers who are booked to travel until Thursday, 30 April, can request a refund or rebook on another flight until Monday, 15 June.
The airline has also updated its rebooking policy, so passengers have one free date change on fares booked after 2 April.
Emirates has a reduced schedule. Getty
Fiji Airways
Fiji Airways' Brisbane-Fiji flight will be temporarily suspended from April 25. Next month, it will also pause Tuesday flights to Dallas-Fort Worth, but continue to run two weekly services.
Come September, the Dallas service will be suspended indefinitely "due to high fuel costs and changing demand".
The airline will continue up to 11 weekly US flights via Los Angeles and San Francisco, with onward connections through American Airlines.
Fiji Airways has also announced an upgrade to the A350 on Vancouver services and increased Hong Kong frequencies from September.
Korean Airlines
Korean Airlines is still operating direct flights between Seoul and Sydney, and Seoul and Brisbane. However, its fuel surcharge has tripled - rising to $260 in April for a Seoul-Sydney flight.
Lufthansa
The European airline will cancel 20,000 flights over the next six months in response to the conflict, across its worldwide network.
This includes axing some short-haul routes and reducing the frequency of others.
Lufthansa Group operates the German flag carrier Lufthansa, its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, such as Swiss, Austrian, ITA, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Discover Airlines.
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines has suspended flights from its hub at Changi Airport to Dubai.
The airline has seen a marked increase in demand for flights headed to Europe as travellers look for routes that avoid the Middle East. It has returned its Airbus A380 on flights to Melbourne, replacing the smaller Boeing 777-300ER for the first time in three years.
Singapore Airlines is increasing flights to Europe. CNN
Thai Airways
The Thailand-based carrier has announced that fares will be raised by 10 per cent to 15 per cent across the network.
Vietjet
The Vietnamese carrier only launched in Australia in 2023, but has announced a temporary reduction to its services Down Under.
This will impact flights to Melbourne (from 7 to 5 weekly flights), Brisbane (5 to 4 flights) and Perth (4 to 3 flights) until late May and early June.
What can I do if my airline cancels my flight due to fuel costs?
Airlines that are cancelling flights have been reaching out to passengers directly to rebook them on a suitable alternative - often on the same day.
As a general rule, passengers are entitled to either a refund or a travel credit if the airline cancels the flight and a suitable alternative is not found.
All information current at time of publishing.
