British Airways said today that it would raise its fuel surcharge on long-haul airfares because of high oil prices. The price of crude oil struck a record high point of $100.10 a barrel in trading yesterday.
'British Airways will increase its fuel surcharge on all tickets issued from Monday, February 25, 2008. The decision reflects continuing high oil prices,' a company statement said.
The surcharge for single fare long-haul flights of less than nine hours would increase by £5 sterling per flight to £53, BA said. The cost would rise to £106 for return flights.
The surcharge for single fare long-haul flights of more than nine hours would increase by £6 to £64 per flight. It would jump to £128 for a return fare.
British Airways said its short-haul fuel surcharges would remain at £10 and £20.
Last week it was announced that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were to pay a combined $200m in compensation to millions of passengers for previously colluding over fuel surcharges on tickets.
In August 2007, BA was slapped with a $300m criminal fine by a US federal court after it admitted fixing fuel surcharges levied on flights between the US and Britain. The airline was also hit with record fines totalling $246m in Britain for its actions.
