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. The BITRE data focused on cheapest available fares. A cursory search for flights shows airlines charging hundreds more for average fares at many points in December. In the second week of December, Sydney-to-Melbourne return fares on budget carriers at the traditionally unfavourable early and late ends of Sydney airport’s curfew average $500. 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.<br/>