Qantas boss Alan Joyce says his airline is well placed to cope with the rising oil prices that spooked some of its investors Thursday, and is confident it can find savings to balance out a growing fuel bill. The airline revealed that earnings from its domestic operations jumped by 25% to A$1.1b last financial year despite rising fuel costs, as it flew its planes closer to capacity and nudged up ticket prices. “The domestic businesses will continue to perform really well and we’re seeing really strong demand," Joyce said. "We have to believe that domestic will at least recover fuel [costs] and maybe do a bit better than that." Qantas International's earnings meanwhile rose by 7% to $399m, thanks to a $80m saving from moving its overseas hub from Dubai to Singapore, and replacing fuel-chugging jumbo jets with Boeing 787 Dreamliners. <br/>
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Qantas is considering a larger version of the Airbus A350 as the jetmaker and Boeing vie to connect Sydney and London in a non-stop 20-hour flight by 2022, the airline’s CE said. The airline’s selection process for what would be the world’s longest commercial flight has advanced to the request for proposal stage with a purchase decision due next year, CE Alan Joyce said Thursday. Qantas had been eyeing the A350-900ULR that rival SIA will use to relaunch flights from Singapore to New York this year. It is still considering the Boeing 777-8, which has a higher seating capacity. Airbus said in June it could look to develop an ultra-long range version of the larger A350-1000 that might suit Qantas, which has set a goal of 300 passenger seats on London flights, including an economy class offering. <br/>
Two major European airlines said Thursday that they would suspend service to Tehran next month, a double-punch that underscored the power of reimposed American sanctions on Iran and the limited abilities of others to sidestep them. The suspensions, by British Airways and Air France, mean at least 3 large European carriers, which once held out great promise for their Iran business under the now-threatened nuclear agreement, will quit flying to and from the country in September. KLM announced a similar suspension last month. The moves seemed bound to deepen Iran’s sense of economic isolation, which has worsened considerably in the nearly 4 months since president Trump scrapped American participation in the nuclear agreement negotiated by the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama. <br/>