Chinese airline companies are urging the industry regulator to resume the levy of fuel surcharges after the country once again raised jet fuel prices.
Jet fuel price per ton was raised by RMB1,030 ($151) to RMB5,050 ($740) on June 30, an increase of 25.6%.
Si Xianmin, President of China Southern Airlines, told the Guangzhou Daily, "Ticket prices are already very low now. Since fuel prices were lifted again, we hope the authorities will levy fuel surcharges again." China suspended fuel surcharges on June 15 of this year.
The proposed surcharges of those airlines will be RMB20 ($2.9) for each passenger flying less than 800 kilometers and RMB40 ($5.9) for each flying more than 800 kilometers.
China Daily reports that Li Lei, an analyst from China Securities Research, predicted that the new surcharges will be as much as the ones levied in November 2007, when the international crude oil price was $80 a barrel.
At that time, surcharges in China were RMB60 ($8.8) per passenger for short-haul flights and RMB 100 yuan ($14.7) for long-haul flights.
There are no doubt sound commercial reasons why this should be shown as a fare surcharge but the thought often arises that the airlines could just raise their fares.
You must log in to post a comment.