Fuel surcharge on airfares to be hiked June 27: BA |
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Published
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Fri, 24 Jun 2005 14:35
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LONDON: Long haul air travel becomes dearer with British Airways announcing a hike in fuel surcharge, effective June 27. This is the fourth fuel surcharge hike in a year; one can already hear regular passengers of the airline already grumbling “Oh no! Not again”.
Passengers will now have to pay a fuel surcharge of £24 per sector (up from previous £16) for a long-haul flight. Long-haul return airfare would add a fuel surcharge of £48. Short haul air travel also becomes dearer by £2. A BA spokesperson explained that the hike was consequent to the continuing rise in global oil prices, which yesterday surged to $60 (approx £32.9) a barrel.
BA’s fuel costs this year could increase to around £1.6 billion, (£450 million more than last year’s). The new surcharge would help recoup part of the cost.
He said BA was under continuous pressure and expected other airlines and petrol pumps to follow suit. Rival airlines BMI and Virgin Atlantic are expected to announce a similar hike soon to their fuel surcharges.
Budget airlines EasyJet and Ryanair would be equally affected and could hike air fare prices or introduce fuel surcharge to prevent rising fuel costs from making a dent in profits.
Regardless, profits are going to take a tumble as a result of the sharp rise in global oil prices.
BA’s projected revenues for the year up to March 2006 have been slashed from between 4.5% and 5% to between 4% and 5%.
The airline had last hiked fuel surcharges from £10 to £16 in March.
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