AirAsia revives fuel surcharge due to escalating oil price

 

AirAsia says it has been absorbing past increases in oil prices following its decision to remove the fuel surcharge in 2015 but it has no choice now. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Malaysia will be reintroducing fuel surcharges from Tuesday for all its domestic and international flights to offset escalating jet fuel prices that have exceeded US$120 per barrel.

The fuel surcharges will be applicable for new flight bookings made on and after March 8. All bookings made prior to March 8 will not be affected.

“Fuel surcharge rate for all domestic routes within Malaysia is RM10 while rates for international flights that are one and two hours long is fixed at RM25.

“Meanwhile, the rates for international flights that are two to three hours, three to four hours, and more than four hours are RM35, RM50 and RM60 respectively,” the low-cost airline said in a statement today.

AirAsia Malaysia chief executive officer Riad Asmat said airlines the world over are affected by the rising oil prices and the upward spiral caused by the situation in Eastern Europe as well as other external factors.

“Since we last abolished fuel surcharges in 2015 when the price of crude oil was as low as US$48 per barrel, there were numerous occasions when we saw how the fluctuations caused other airlines to start imposing surcharges.

“However, AirAsia had been absorbing past increases in oil prices to continue to provide the best value to our guests.

“Unfortunately, the current situation, with the price of crude oil increasing by more than 160% compared with what it was in 2015, has made it no longer sustainable,” he said.

Riad added that he hoped this will only be a temporary measure and that AirAsia will continue to monitor the situation.

At the same time, he said the airline plans to capitalise on technological and digital innovations to try and keep costs at bay and make air travel affordable. - FMT