BA long-haul surcharge to go up

British Airways is to increase its fuel surcharge on long-haul flights due to the rise in world oil prices, it was announced today.

The rise, to be introduced from Friday, will be £10 per flight for long-haul passengers in economy seats and £20 for those going long-haul business class or first class.

The increase means economy passengers on long-haul flights of less than nine hours will see their surcharge going up from £75 to £85.

The economy-seat surcharge on flights of more than nine hours will rise from £88 to £98.

Those travelling in premium economy seats - a higher class than economy but a slight downgrade from business class - - will see their surcharge increase from £85 to £95 per flight for long-haul flights of under nine hours and from £106.50 to £116.50 for flights exceeding nine hours.

The premium (business and first class) rise will mean the surcharge going up from £105 to £125 for long-haul flights under nine hours and rising from £125 to £145 for flights of more than nine hours.

There will be no increase in the fuel surcharge on domestic and short-haul flights.

BA chief financial officer Nick Swift said: "It's with real regret that we are having to increase our long-haul fuel surcharge.

"As customers will know from the price at the petrol pumps, the cost of fuel has continued to rise significantly over the past three months."

He went on: "For us, fuel now represents over one third of our costs and particularly affects our long-haul flights.

"We are very aware of the wider economic pressures on our customers at the moment and we will bear the vast majority of the recent fuel price rise ourselves to keep this increase in surcharge to a minimum."