British Airways said today it would lower fuel surcharges on 34 of its 75 long-haul routes including flights linking London and New York as crude oil prices hit fresh 19-month lows today.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange British Airways said it was reducing its fuel surcharge on its shorter long-haul routes from tomorrow, as a result of a fall in the price of oil.
The fuel surcharge on tickets sold in the UK for long-haul flights of less than nine hours will be reduced to £30 per flight from 35 pounds, it said.
Charges on longer flights will remain at £35 pounds, and the airline's fuel surcharge on its 87 short-haul routes will remain at £8 pounds, BA said.
A spokesperson for Aer Lingus said this evening that the current surcharges remained actively under review in the context of lower oil prices
Earlier this week low-cost airline Ryanair had accused a number of European airlines of operating a fuel surcharge scam for failing to reduce surcharges now that the price of oil has fallen dramatically.
BA said routes to see lower surcharges would include those linking London with Washington, Dubai and Delhi.
Chief executive Michael O'Leary said the price of oil had fallen back from about $78 a barrel to around $53. But, he said, a number of airlines, including Aer Lingus, had not reduced their surcharges.
Air France KLM said today it was not planning to change surcharges on its Air France operations for now.
German airline Lufthansa said it was watching the change in crude prices, but there are no current plans to change the surcharge.
Last June UK and US authorities raided the offices of BA and several other airlines as part of a probe into possible cartel activity regarding fares and fuel surcharges.
