Ministry to hike fuel surcharges for long-haul flights

Air travelers will likely pay more fuel surcharges for long-haul flights and less for short-haul flights starting July at the earliest as the government looks to better adjust the rates to fluctuations in jet fuel prices, officials said Sunday.

Fuel surcharges are an extra charge added to the ticket price of air flights, to cover the cost of fuel rates. The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs applies different rates in four categories by flight length.

Currently, the surcharge on one-way long-haul flights to Europe and the U.S. is $140, around 4.4 times the $32 rate for the route to Japan. But the ministry said it is not balanced according to flight length since the distance to Europe or the U.S. is five or six times greater that to Japan.

In addition, local carriers can raise or cut the government-set rates for international itineraries only bimonthly to keep pace with the average price of jet fuel in the previous two months in the Singaporean spot market, which in consequence would not reflect up-to-date prices.

If the average cost rose to $1.50 a gallon during the April-May period, for example, airlines can increase fuel surcharges on their overseas flights for July and August after a month. They must notify any rate change a month before implementation.

In efforts to make the system more relevant to the market, the ministry plans to allow airlines to change the rates every month and break down the four groups into six or seven.

"If the system goes into practice, the beneficiaries will be mid-income class customers and ordinary people who tend to use Japan and China routes more frequently," an official in the aviation industry said, adding fuel surcharges on medium-haul flights will probably remain unchanged.

Industry officials expect Korean Air to welcome the measure as it operates numerous long-distance flights. But Asiana Airlines could oppose because of the relatively small number of such routes.

"Though we’ll have to look into details of the plan, the ministry would better impose fuel surcharges on a mileage basis to make the system truly fair and adequate," an Asiana official said.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)