Cathay Pacific offers £20,000 Sydney to London flight amid disruption in Gulf

Hong Kong-based airline has business-class return listed at A$39,577, as travellers look for route avoiding Middle East

The Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific is selling seats from Sydney to London for more than £20,000 in April, as passengers search for scarce long-haul flights without changing in the Middle East.

The tickets, listed at A$39,577 in business class for returns departing in mid-April, far outstrip the usual fares charged even in the first class cabin.

Travellers on routes around the world have had to look for different options after the US-Israel war on Iran closed critical airspace and major hub airports in the Middle East.

A large proportion of UK-Australia traffic connects in the Gulf, travelling on airlines including Dubai-based Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad and Qatar Airways out of Doha. The three biggest carriers have now restarted limited operations at a fraction of normal schedules, and hundreds of thousands of travellers have had their flights cancelled over 10 days of full or partial airspace closure in countries around Iran.

Alternative long-haul connections, such as via Singapore, Hong Kong or Malaysia, have limited capacity.

Economy flights via the Gulf in the same period remain on sale from about £1,100 return, the top end of the normal range according to Skyscanner, although bookings are mired in uncertainty as the war continues. Routes on carriers operating via China, India and Malaysia typically were listed at £1,400 to £1,800.

While April is a busier season, return UK-Australia fares on the route are more typically £3,000 to £4,000 in business class and from £800 in economy.

Cathay no longer had seats in economy class available to book on many dates in April but fares for the cheaper seats started at around £1,800.

Any passenger that now stumps up the A$39,577 fare will be travelling in mixed cabins – upgraded to first for some legs, but on certain departures, with the inconvenience of a stint in economy for an Australian short hop. The extraordinary fare exceeds the listed price for first class, available for a mere A$28,146 (£14,900) in April.

Andrew Charlton, an aviation analyst, said he had not seen fares at a similar level but was aware of other airlines in Asia ramping up fares on a variety of routes to Europe, including from the Philippines and Japan, with many fares in economy on the popular UK to Australia route now at last year’s premium economy levels.

The closure of Russian airspace has made the Asian routes less viable, with carriers either having to divert south over the same congested and uncertain Middle East airspace, or even from Japan, rerouting north-east over Alaska and the Arctic to reach London.

Long-haul prices advertised via the Gulf remain cheapest, but Charlton said: “I wouldn’t do it without checking my travel insurance. The way Emirates is going to attract passengers back is by selling cheap – but you would be taking a risk.”

A spokesperson for Cathay said the “current fare volatility reflects a short-term supply-demand imbalance as passengers prioritise alternative routes … While we continue to offer competitive fares and broad availability, high load factors have resulted in elevated fares in select cabin classes on peak days.”

The airline said it would operate extra passenger flights to London and Zurich in March to meet the increase in demand and would “respond with agility to evolving customer needs”.