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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
AS the Philippines’ summer season kicks off,
travelers are likely to fork out a bigger sum for tickets as
airlines seek higher fuel surcharges to mitigate the impact of more
expensive jet fuel.
In separate applications filed before the Civil
Aeronautical Board (CAB), Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, the
country’s two leading carriers, sought permission to increase the
surcharges on their domestic flights.
The looming fare increase is likely to put a
dent on the government’s plan to raise tourism receipts from local
travelers especially since a strong peso is expected to turn away US
tourists, who accounted for a fifth of total arrivals last year.
The CAB earlier reported that domestic air
travel last year rose to 10.38 million passengers, up 22.7 percent
from 8.46 million in 2006. International passenger traffic meanwhile
grew 10.85 percent to 11.23 million compared with 10.13 million in
2006.
PAL wants to raise the surcharge on its Luzon-Visayas flights to
P1,030 from P930 at present. The surcharges on the Luzon-Mindanao,
Visayas-Mindanao, and within Luzon flights would rise from P1,180,
P900, and P780 to P1,380, P1,100, and P880, respectively. The
surcharge on flights within Mindanao would remain at P1,180.
For its part, Cebu Pacific wants a P1,130 fuel
surcharge, up from P1,280 for its Luzon-Mindanao flights. It is also
seeking increases in its Luzon-Visayas, Visayas-Mindanao, within
Visayas, within Luzon, and within Mindanao surcharges from P970,
P900, P650, P700, and P900 to P1,070, P1,000, P750, P750, and
P1,000, respectively.
Besides the local carriers, Royal Brunei filed
for an increase in its fuel surcharge for its Manila- Brunei flights
from $12 to $25. Singapore Airlines also plans to raise its
surcharge to $30 from $26 per sector flights between Singapore and
other Association of Southeast Asian Nation member-countries, and to
$130 per sector flights between Singapore and gateways in the US and
Canada.
Silk Air will hike its surcharge to $80 from $75
per sector flights between Singapore and points in China, Taiwan,
India and Nepal, and to $30 from $26 between Singapore and the
Philippines.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. wants to increase
the surcharge to $66.40 from $65.10 for flights between Hong Kong
and Southwest Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa,
South Asian Sub Continent, as well as between Bangkok and Dubai.
Northwest Airlines has applied for a $135 fuel
surcharge from $125 each way between the Philippines and North
America.
A fuel surcharge is a temporary relief granted
to airlines to help them recover losses they incur from higher jet
fuel prices. According to the International Air Transportation
Association Jet Fuel Price Monitor, the average jet fuel price last
year stood at $87 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 price of jet fuel started going up in 2002 but local and foreign
airlines began asking for an adjustment in their fuel surcharges in
2004.
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