Qantas lifts fuel surcharge

Qantas will increase fuel surcharges on its international routes and raise base fares across its domestic network, blaming higher fuel costs and a fall in the value of the Australian dollar.

The airline said fares across its domestic network - including routes flown by regional subsidiary QantasLink - would increase by between 2 per cent and 3 per cent.

While the rises will vary, Qantas said economy passengers faced an average increase of $20 on a one-way international flight. The increases will apply to tickets issued in Australia from August 14.

The surcharges on a one-way economy ticket to Europe will increase by $25 to $255, while those on business and first-class fares will rise $65 to $445.

Qantas said the real cost of Singapore jet fuel in Australian dollars had "increased significantly" since it last raised fuel surcharges in April last year. The airline buys its fuel in US dollars.

"While we use a range of tools to mitigate the impact of fuel costs ... the Qantas Group is still under-recovering the cost of past fuel price increases," it said.

Qantas' budget offshoot, Jetstar, was also reviewing its fees but had yet to make a decision.