Qantas cuts some Jetstar services to New Zealand amid rising jet fuel prices

Qantas has announced that Jetstar will cut some of its critical New Zealand flights, citing a rise in the cost of jet fuel.

In a statement, a Jetstar New Zealand spokeswoman said “temporary changes” had been made to the transtasman schedule because of the soaring prices, as a direct result of the Middle East conflict and “other rising costs”.

“All impacted passengers have been contacted directly, and most have been offered same-day travel,” the spokeswoman continued.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank our customers for their understanding.”

The Australian Financial Review reports more than 55 flights have been cut from the route, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Some include routes between Auckland and Sydney and from Sydney to Queenstown, via Melbourne.

Jetstar has announced "temporary changes" to its transtasman schedule due to soaring jet fuel prices. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Adjustments in the schedule have been made to optimise the airline’s fleet across the network because of engineering and fleet requirements, the carrier said.

Flights on select routes are being adjusted to allow travellers to get as close to their original flight times as possible.

Customers are able to contact the airline and discuss their options via the chat function.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Industry Minister Tim Ayres has revealed 8% of service stations nationwide are without one or more grades of fuel.

That means as many as 560 stations across Australia are missing either diesel, petrol or both.

Addressing question time, the country’s Energy Minister Chris Bowen gave a state-by-state breakdown of the fuel crisis.

In NSW, out of 2417 service stations, 164 were without diesel and 289 were without at least one type of fuel, he said.

In Queensland, out of 1800 service stations, 55 were without diesel and 35 with no regular unleaded.

In Victoria, out of 1627 service stations, 162 service stations were without one or more fuel available.

In South Australia, out of 700 service stations, 46 service stations were without one or more grades of fuel, while in Western Australia, out of 771 service stations, six service stations were without stock.

In Tasmania, out of 257 stations, only one had no diesel, while six had no unleaded.

The Northern Territory and the ACT have no outages.

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