The Hindu Business Line : Air France, Lufthansa impose fuel surcharge

INTERNATIONAL air travel to and from India will turn more costly in the coming days. The soaring price of fuel has compelled Air France to increase its fuel surcharge by 11 euros, or about Rs 601 per segment, on long-haul flights.

The surcharge will come into effect from October 11. In effect, a passenger travelling on the Delhi-Paris-Delhi sector will pay, in addition, a surcharge of 22 euros or about Rs 1,200.

However, the surcharge on the domestic and medium-haul networks (Europe and North Africa) remains unchanged, Air France has said.

Similarly, German airline Lufthansa has said that it too, would levy a surcharge of 17 euros per flight leg — which is 10 euros more than before — on long-haul routes.

The new fuel surcharge applies to all tickets bought on or after October 15 this year.

Besides, the fuel surcharge on domestic and intra-European flights will be raised by 5 euros, bringing the total surcharge per sector to 7 euros.

The two European airlines have said that the increase would be withdrawn as soon as the price of crude oil goes below $40 a barrel for 30 consecutive days.

Officials of several global airlines having regular operations to and from India also hinted at being forced to impose a small fuel surcharge on their tickets.

A formal announcement from several leading international airlines is expected within the next few days.

The northward movement of global oil prices in the past few months has forced not only international but also domestic airline to increase fares.