The rising cost of jet fuel has once again prompted Qantas Airways Ltd to increase the price of its air tickets.Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the increases were unavoidable given the continuing high costs of oil.
Mr Dixon said Qantas had increased its fuel hedging and was now covered for 59% of expected crude oil requirements in 2008/09 at $US111.81 a barrel WTI, inclusive of option premium.
“Oil and jet fuel prices continue to break records, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spot crude oil passing $US134 a barrel overnight and Singapore Jet Fuel today trading at nearly $US166 a barrel,” he said.
Mr Dixon said Qantas had increased its fuel hedging and was now covered for 59% of expected crude oil requirements in 2008/09 at $US111.81 a barrel WTI, inclusive of option premium.
Qantas said its international air fares would rise by around 4% and domestic fares by about 3% for tickets issued in Australia from June 4.
The increases follow hikes of about 3% for international fares and 3.5% for domestic fares earlier this month.
“Despite our hedging activities, fare increase, surcharges and strong focus on managing costs across our operations, we will not cover these higher fuel costs, which at current prices will add more than $2 billion to our fuel bill in 2008/09.”
Mr Dixon said the carrier was continuing to target further efficiency improvements which now include a review of the network and schedules of Qantas, QantasLink and Jetstar.