LONDON - British Airways has hiked its fuel surcharge today. This is the fifth time that the airline has been forced to take this step since its inception last year. And this move was somewhat expected since oil prices on the international markets have hit the proverbial roof.
BA made the announcement this morning and said that from next Monday onwards; passengers on its longhaul flights would have to pay £30 a flight as opposed to the current charge of £24. What this means is that passengers on longhaul return trips will have to shell out £60 in fuel charges.
However, the tax on shorthaul flights will not be hiked and remain at £8 one-way, and £16 for a
return trip. It is worth noting that the fuel tax has soared from the £2.50 a flight, when it was first introduced by the airline. "Our fuel costs remain a real burden. The price of oil hit a record high of just over $70 a barrel in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Our fuel bill of around £1.6 billion is now our second largest cost after employee costs. This latest fuel surcharge is very regrettable but we have little choice [but] to pass some of our extra costs on to our customers," said Martin George, commercial director at BA. The airline which was recently affected by the unprecedented strike by a dispute between Gate Gourmet, its caterer and the Transport and General Workers Union, blamed the need to raise taxes on the surging oil prices that have scaled new highs in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina.
"We believe that it is better to be transparent with our customers about the price of fuel by showing the level of fuel surcharge they are paying rather than hide the cosets by raising fares behind the scenes like some other airlines choose to," said George. BA is only the second airline after Virgin Atlantic to increase the fuel tax charges citing the tough oil markets as the reason. Analysts say that other European airlines would soon be forced to follow suit.
Posted
on : Thu, 08 Sep 2005 17:05 GMT | General News
By : Pippa Fielding
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