BA fuel surcharges rise further

BA is passing on higher fuel costs to customers

British Airways has said it will increase its fuel surcharges on all tickets issued from Tuesday, 3 June as it looks to offset rising oil prices.

The surcharge for short-haul flights will rise by �3 per flight to �16 per flight, or �32 for a return ticket.

Long-haul flights of less than nine hours will increase by �15 per flight to �78 per flight.

The surcharge for long-haul flights of more than nine hours will rise by �30 per flight to �109 per flight.

BA added that it would also increase its fuel surcharges by similar levels in markets outside the UK.

Earlier this month, BA reported a 45% rise in profits to �883m for the year to 31 March.

However, at the same time, the airline warned that the current financial year would be tough because of the soaring cost of jet fuel.

It said at the time that if oil remained at its then market price of $120 a barrel, BA's total fuel costs would rise by about �1bn in the current financial year.

The price of oil hit a record high of more than $135 a barrel last week and is currently trading around the $130-a-barrel mark.

Revenue measures

Separately, Spanish airline Iberia said that it was dropping its bid for fellow airline Spanair.

The move came soon after Iberia's chairman said it was rethinking its stance on the offer because of difficulties facing the sector.

And the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that the airline industry faced a "grim" outlook, saying that passenger numbers would be dented by soaring fuel costs and economic turmoil.

The number of airline passengers grew by 3% in April from 5.4% in the same month the previous year, it said.

And for the first four months of 2007 the year, growth was 5.6%, as against 6.7% the previous year.

Besides fuel surcharges, airlines have begun taking measures to try and boost revenue.

Last week, American Airlines said it would become the first major US carrier to charge passengers to check in a first bag.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version