BA pumps up fuel charge
BA pumps up fuel charge
Also In The News
|
West Brom held on for a 0-0 draw with Bolton at the Hawthorns to grab a vital point and close the gap on Portsmouth to three. |
Tuesday, 18, Apr 2006 04:08
British Airways has become the latest long-haul airline to announce an increase in fuel surcharges for passengers as a result of soaring fuel costs.
The UK's largest airline will increase its long-haul charge by £5 to £35 from Friday April 21st. BA's £8 short-haul charge will remain unchanged.
The move follows fuel charge increases by most of BA's main long-haul competitors - including Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and KLM - over the past month and came as crude oil prices soared to a record high of $70.85 earlier today on the back of increased concerns over the stability of Iranian supplies.
Announcing the increase, BA commercial director Martin George insisted that the airline had avoided increasing its additional fuel charge for as long as possible.
"Our fuel costs remain a real burden. The price of oil has risen above $70 a barrel and experts anticipate it staying at these levels for some time," Mr George said.
"This latest fuel surcharge rise is very regrettable but we have little choice to pass some of our extra costs on to our customers. Fuel is our second largest cost after employee costs."
And in a barbed attack on competitors, notably Ryanair, Mr George claimed that BA's "transparent" charge was much fairer to customers than hiding the costs within fare increases. Last summer, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary pledged that the airline would never introduce an additional charge on tickets to cover fuel costs.
"We believe that it is better to be transparent with our customers by showing the level of fuel surcharge they are paying rather than hide the costs by raising fares behind the scenes like some other airlines choose to do," Mr George said.
"This approach would enable us to reduce the surcharge should fuel prices fall over time."
BA's fuel bill in 2005/6 is estimated to total £1.6 billion, rising to £2.2 billion in 2006/7.
Last month, Virgin announced an identical £5 fuel surcharge increase, while KLM raised its surcharge by ?5 to ?45.
However, the Dutch airline said that it would retract this cost should oil prices fall below $65 a barrel for 30 days in succession.