British Airways has increased its long-haul fuel surcharge yet again, adding £5 to the cost of a flight.
The company blamed the high price of oil for the move which will see the surcharge for long-haul flights of up to nine hours increase from £33 to £38 per sector, or from £66 to £76 return.
Flights longer than nine hours will cost an additional £43 per sector and £86 return, up from £38 and £76 respectively. The short-haul fuel surcharge remains at £8 per flight.
However, the airline continues to comply with Office of Fair Trading (OFT) requirements to display fares inclusive of all tax and charges. The surcharge is shown as a component of the fare, but included in the total price at all times.
BA commercial director Robert Boyle said: “The cost of fuel has risen significantly again in recent weeks. We have little choice but to pass on some of this extra cost. We expect our fuel bill this year to be more than £2 billion.”
The carrier has imposed a surcharge since May 2004 when oil prices began to soar, beginning with a long-haul charge of £2.50. This rose steadily until the end of last year, when BA briefly reduced the long-haul surcharge from £35 to £30 per sector.
BA recently announced a profit of £611 million for the year to the end of March.