Qantas has removed a carbon tax-linked surcharge from its fares, but the airline does not expect to reduce ticket prices as a result.
The airline said in a statement that it had removed the surcharge ahead of the expected repeal of the government’s carbon tax, which is expected to pass the Australian Senate soon.
In February 2012, Qantas announced its intention to raise domestic ticket prices as a result of the carbon tax. It said fares on Qantas and QantasLink flights would rise by $1.82 to $6.86, depending on the length of the sector.
However, the airline said the carbon tax had not resulted in an overall increase in fares and that the removal of the surcharge would not affect prices.
Qantas stated that "given the level of competition and the unique pressures in the domestic aviation market, we haven't been able to recover the cost of the carbon tax through price increases as we originally intended. Our all-inclusive fares have not risen, though we have kept a small carbon surcharge on domestic fares so that we can keep track internally of the cost of the tax. This has now been removed, but there won't be any change to the prices that customers pay.