Australians to face sky-high air fares over Christmas as threat of industrial action at Qantas looms

Australians are facing a chaotic and expensive end-of-year travel season, with record-high domestic fares and the threat of fresh industrial action by Qantas flight attendants coming to a crescendo over Christmas.

Following months of higher-than-average domestic air fares, travellers hoping to book the cheapest available return domestic air fares are facing prices not recorded since March 2004, according to air fare price indexes maintained by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE).

The cheapest Melbourne-to-Sydney return fares in December are $268, while the cheapest Perth-to-Sydney return fares are $751 and Alice Springs-to-Sydney fares $959 for the same month, according to recent data from the government agency.

International air fares to and from Australia are also soaring ahead of the new year.

Economy fares to London from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney over the December travel period are averaging $3,000, $2,641 and $2,250 respectively, according to data from flight booking website Kayak.com. Prices from Brisbane to London are 73% higher than for the same period in 2019.

New Delhi, Kathmandu, Bali, Bangkok and Manila are the other most searched for international destinations for this Christmas holiday period. Data suggests 23 December will be the busiest day at Australian airports over the festive season.

Record-high air fares are due to a confluence of factors, including the slow rebuilding of the aviation workforce due to Covid, staff illnesses, high fuel prices and pent-up demand for travel at a time when airlines are operating fewer flights than pre-pandemic.

The number of seats on offer on the Sydney-to-Melbourne route in October was 76% of pre-Covid levels for the same month, and 80% for all other domestic routes. International seat capacity into Sydney airport was at 58% of pre-Covid levels in October.

Another factor affecting prices is an imbalance in demand for international flights. The proportion of Australian residents going overseas compared with international tourists coming in is at 65:35, compared with 52:48 pre-Covid.