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LOCAL
and foreign airlines have asked the Civil Aeronautics
Board (CAB) to allow them to charge their passengers
additional fuel fees for every one-way trip.
Flag
carrier Philippine Airlines is seeking an increase of
between $5 and $15 from current fees imposed for flights
to China, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau,
and the US and Canada.
In its
application, PAL sought to impose the following fuel
surcharges: China, $58 from the existing $54; Indonesia,
$74 from $59; Korea, $54; Singapore, $34; Hong Kong,
$40; Macau, $40; and USA/Canada, $129.
Budget
carrier Seair asked for P200 additional for flights to
anywhere in the country from Manila; and P150 for
Visayas to Mindanao flights.
Pending
applications for additional fuel surcharges by foreign
airlines include Northwest, seeking to raise surcharge
to $70 between Philippines and Japan; Saudi Arabian
Airlines, $60 to Saudi Arabia; Thai Airways, $105 to
Bangkok; Malaysia Airlines, to $56 to Malaysia; and
Singapore Airlines, $35 to any Asean-member countries.
The fuel
surcharge, imposed on top of regular fares, is a
temporary relief given by regulators to allow airlines
to mitigate losses from the rising cost of jet fuel that
the International Air Transport Association said had
surged to more than $150 per barrel.
Fuel
accounts for a third of an airline’s operating cost per
passenger, and is the second-highest expense next to
labor.
The CAB
had earlier approved PAL’s petition to raise fuel
surcharge for its domestic operations. PAL’s Luzon-Visayas
flights now bears a surcharge of P1,030; Luzon-Mindanao,
Visayas-Mindanao, and within Luzon flights, the fuel fee
rose to P1,380, P1,100, and P880, respectively. |
