The problem with most airlines is that they are quick on the draw to implement extra charges once airline fuel goes up, but are slow to revert when the same goes down, thus said Flight Centre, Australia's largest travel agent, as it lambasted Australian air carriers Qantas Airways Limited and Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd for their poor inaction to automatically lower their surcharges.

Prices of jet fuel have lowered by 25 per cent over the past three months, or $US103 to a barrel, Flight Centre said.

''It is hard to fathom why they don't decrease as much as they increase,'' the Sydney Morning Herald quoted an unidentified spokesman as saying.

Flight Centre said it anticipated air carriers to automatically reduce surcharges once jet fuel prices go down.

Australian air carriers were obliged to add in fuel surcharges into the fees paid to travel agents selling international tickets, via a High Court ruling issued in 2010. However, the agents protested some of the airlines still paid small compared if it was charged of the full fare.

Qantas Airways Limited defended the add-ons were ''appropriate'' and needed, especially since the Qantas Group's fuel consumption bill in the last financial year reached $4.4 billion compared with $3.6 billion a year ago. Qantas and Jetstar are the group's airline brands.

Virgin, meanwhile, said it regularly checked prices of jet fuel, noting whatever ''increases or decreases to our fuel surcharges and fares in line with this," the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

''We are very conscious of balancing our commitment to providing competitive fares with the operational costs of our business,'' a spokeswoman said.

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