Fed: Qantas and Virgin have no plans to increase prices

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2001
Fed: Qantas and Virgin have no plans to increase prices

MELBOURNE, Aug 29 AAP - Qantas and Virgin Blue have no plans to raise airfares after
competitor Ansett today said it would raise domestic economy fares by six per cent.

Ansett said it would increase domestic full economy fares by between 5.5 and six per
cent from today to counter increasing operating costs.

The increase means a one-way flight from Melbourne to Sydney would rise from $330 to $349.80.

Spokespeople for Qantas and Virgin Blue today told AAP the airlines had no plans to
raise airfares.

A one-way flight from Melbourne to Sydney cost $333 with Qantas and $184 with Virgin Blue.

An Ansett spokeswoman said the rising costs were due to an increase in operating costs,
which included fuel and the value of the Australian dollar.

The spokeswoman could not say whether airfares would increase again in the next year.

"Ansett will be monitoring the market and looking at our competitors, but I could not
give you a definite answer [on future rises]," she said.

"The nature of the business does mean that prices change all the time."

The spokeswoman said the rise applied only to full economy flights - for pre-booked
economy tickets - and Websaver (Websaver) flights, which would rise across the board by
$11.

The rise would not apply to the airline's business and other discount flights nor to
Ansett's flights to Hong Kong, Osaka and Bali, she said.

The fare increase comes less than one week after Ansett and Qantas both came under
scrutiny for lowering the age for children to travel free on domestic routes.

Changes recently introduced by the carriers mean the threshold for free travel for
youngsters has dropped from three to two years of age.

AAP ac/clr/mjm/br

KEYWORD: ANSETT

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