The Hindu Business Line : BA imposes $4 fuel surcharge

WITH international oil prices ruling at a 13-year high, British Airways (BA) has imposed a fuel surcharge of $4 per sector. This, in effect, means that a passenger flying on the India-UK-India sector will have to pay an additional $8.

Most other international airlines operating flights to and from India have no immediate plans of imposing a surcharge as they are still reviewing the situation.

The BA surcharge comes into effect from May 13 and will be applicable on tickets sold on or after the date.

On how long the surcharge is likely to be in place, a BA spokesperson told Business Line that the airline would keep reviewing the fluctuation in international oil prices.

Similarly, Qantas, the Australian airline, which currently does not fly to India, has also imposed a fuel surcharge.

On May 11, the airline said that it would introduce a fuel surcharge on passenger tickets sold after the midnight of May 17 due to a substantial rise in jet fuel prices.

The fuel surcharge will be $6 per sector for Qantas Domestic, QantasLink, Jetstar and domestic New Zealand services and $15 per sector for Qantas international services and Australian Airlines.

But a host of other airlines have decided against levying any surcharge for the moment.

"Lufthansa is constantly observing the market development. Currently, there are no plans for any fuel surcharge or oil price-related fare increase," an airlines spokesperson said.

The Air India spokesman also said that the Maharaja too has no such plans as of now. A spokesperson for the other British airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways (VAA), said that the airline had not imposed any surcharge nor did it have any such plans.

A spokesman for Kuwait Airways also said that the airline was still operating flights to and from India without imposing any additional surcharge, a sentiment echoed by a spokesperson of Austrian who said that the airline had no plans "so far". While stating that Cathay Pacific currently does not have any fuel surcharge, a spokesperson noted that the airline would continue to monitor the situation and would review the policy if necessary.