Qantas Airways¹ claims the new carbon tax is likely to increase the cost of its operations by as much as 115m Australian dollars.

澳洲航空公司称，新的烟尘排放税将使公司的运营成本增加1.15亿澳元。

The new carbon tax is the latest in a series of issues that have dogged the airline
However, the airline says the extra cost will be passed on to passengers as it increases fares.

Qantas expects the price on a single domestic flight to rise by about A$3.50 in 2013.

The Australian government has unveiled（公开） plans to impose a tax on carbon emissions² in the country.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said carbon dioxide emissions would be taxed at A$23 per tonne from 2012.

"In the context of the significant challenges facing the global aviation industry（航空工业） , the Qantas Group will be unable to absorb the additional costs associated with the carbon price and there will be a full pass-through to customers," the Australian airline said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Virgin³ Australia said the cost of the carbon tax to the company is likely to be about A$45m.

The carrier said it will also pass the extra costs on to the customers, with average domestic fares increasing by A$3 per ticket.

Added burden

Analysts⁴ said that while the company has said that it will pass on the additional costs to the consumers it still faces problems with rising fuel prices.

"Higher fuel prices will have much bigger impact on Qantas compared to carbon tax," said Greg Fraser of Fat Prophets.

"Qantas' fuel bill has been rising significantly," he added.

Mr Fraser said that unlike the carbon tax, Qantas has not been able to pass on the addition fuel costs to the passengers.

"They have tried to increase fares, but they have not been able to fully⁵ offset⁶（弥补，抵消） the fuel costs," he said.

Mr Fraser explained that due to increased competition both in the domestic and international market, Qantas has not been able to increase its fares substantially（实质上，大体上） enough to make up for the increased fuel prices.