MAS removed fuel surcharges in 2013, but told no one about it

Unknown to many, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) had removed its fuel surcharge almost two years ago, but mysteriously decided not to announce it.

An official with the airline told The Rakyat Post that the national carrier started removing the charge from airfares from mid-2013.

As of now, there is no longer a separate fuel surcharge for flights departing from Malaysia.

“Now the airline is working on removing fuel surcharge for flights into Malaysia.

“We have already removed surcharges from five regions from which MAS operates. Only three regions remain.”

He pointed out MAS has to do it in stages because it involved hundreds of thousands of fares.

“We must cut fuel surcharges not only for flights out of Malaysia but also for flights into the country.”

Fuel surcharge is a levy in addition to a fare, imposed on a per ticket basis, to recover increases in cost of fuel.

The MAS official said that as of July 1, 2013, there was no longer any fuel surcharge for Asean destinations and from Oct 1, 2013 for destinations within Malaysia and South Asia.

He said this was followed by China flights from Nov 1, 2013; North Asia, Australia and New Zealand from Dec 3, 2013 and for flights to Middle East, Europe and the United Kingdom from Jan 7, 2014.

Yesterday, budget airline AirAsia Bhd announced it had dropped its fuel surcharge for passengers in view of the drop in global oil prices.

According to a statement, doing away with the fuel surcharge would include its low-cost long haul affiliates AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia X.

AirAsia was the first airline to abolish fuel surcharge for all its domestic and international flights back in 2008.

However, rocketing fuel prices forced the airline to re-introduce the fuel surcharge in its fares in 2011. - http://www.therakyatpost.com/