LONDON (AFP) — British Airways said on Wednesday that it would raise its fuel surcharge on long-haul airfares because of high oil prices.
The price of crude oil struck a record high point of 100.10 dollars a barrel in trading on Tuesday.
"British Airways will increase its fuel surcharge on all tickets issued from Monday, February 25, 2008. The decision reflects continuing high oil prices," a company statement said.
The surcharge for single-fare longhaul flights of less than nine hours would increase by five pounds (6.61 euros, 9.73 dollars) per flight to 53 pounds, BA said. The cost would rise to 106 pounds for return flights.
The surcharge for single-fare longhaul flights of more than nine hours would increase by six pounds to 64 pounds per flight. It would jump to 128 pounds for a return fare.
British Airways said its shorthaul fuel surcharges would remain at 10 and 20 pounds.
Last week it was announced that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were to pay a combined 200 million dollars (136.2 million euros) in compensation to millions of passengers for previously colluding over fuel surcharges on tickets.
In August 2007, BA was slapped with a 300-million-dollar criminal fine by a US federal court after it admitted fixing fuel surcharges levied on flights between the United States and Britain.
The airline was also hit with record fines totalling 246 million dollars in Britain for its actions.
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