Dubai: Qantas and Emirates customers flying out of Australia are being levied a 25 Australian dollar (Dh85) surcharge when travelling on the weekend.
Qantas introduced the weekend travel surcharge on May 15, while Emirates introduced it a month earlier on April 15.
It applies to all outbound Australia flights on Fridays and Saturdays on the Qantas-Emirates network, except Singapore, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur.
It applies to all outbound Australia flights on Fridays and Saturdays on the Qantas-Emirates network, except Singapore, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur.
Travellers to Thailand will be hit, however, with the surcharge on Emirates-operated flights on Fridays and Saturdays, and on Qantas operated flights on Saturdays and Sundays.
Qantas and Emirates are also sticking a A$200 peak season surcharge on flights out of Australia to the Middle East, North Africa, the United Kingdom and Europe. It applies when travelling from June 19-28, August 21 to September 6 and December 12-23.
The fare hike only applies on Qantas and Emirates tickets issued in Australia for outbound travel.
A Qantas spokesperson stated that, “peak surcharges are very common in the airline industry and don’t change the fact we remain extremely competitive in terms of our offering”.
The spokesperson added that Emirates and Qantas have introduced this peak surcharge where the demand for travel is high “and is part of our joint pricing proposition”.
An Emirates spokesperson stated that, “The weekend travel surcharge … is part of a restructure of Emirates’ year-round published Economy Class fares to all destinations.”
Earlier this year, Qantas increased its fuel surcharge on flights from Australia to the Middle East, Europe and parts of Asia to bring its fees in line with Emirates.
Qantas also introduced peak season surcharges on Hong Kong, Shanghai, Manila and Honolulu services.
