Virgin Atlantic begins charging passengers in premium cabins a higher fuel surcharge from today (30 May).
It is raising charges on all tickets, but less steeply for those in Economy to try to reflect the fact that more fuel is burned per passenger for those in Upper and Premium Economy.
”With jet fuel prices now at levels that challenge the very nature and structure of the entire airline industry, we have decided to levy fuel charges depending on where you sit in the plane,” said Virgin Atlantic CEO Steve Ridgway.
”Our Upper Class and Premium Economy passengers benefit from considerably more space on our aircraft and larger baggage allowances than our Economy passengers, so our aircraft burn more fuel to carry them. We believe that Economy passengers should pay lower fuel charges than passengers in our two premium cabins as their carbon footprint is around half of those seated towards the front of the plane."
Surcharges for all new bookings on Virgin Atlantic sold in the UK increase as follows: Economy - ”2.50 ($4.90) on shorter sectors (to ”5.50) and ”4.50 on longer sectors (to ”83.50); Premium Economy - ”12.50 (to ”75.50) and ”16.50 (to ”95.50); and Upper Class - ”22.50 (to ”85.50) and ”28.50 (to ”107.50).
Longer sectors are London to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Mauritius, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Hong Kong.
British Airways (BA) yesterday announced its second fuel surcharge hike in a month, blaming the ”continuing high oil prices” - for short haul flights it increases by ”3 to ”16 per flight (”32 return). For long haul flights of less than nine hours it goes up ”15 to ”78 per flight (”156 return) and on flights of more than nine hours by ”30 to ”109 per flight (”218).
”British Airways will also increase its fuel surcharges by similar levels in markets outside the UK” it said in a statement.
This applies on all tickets issued from Tuesday 3 June. On 2 May it raised charges on the same sectors by ”3, ”10 and ”15 respectively.
A Ryanair spokeswoman called the rises a ”rip-off” and confirmed it would not add a surcharge even if oil hits $200 a barrel ” ”BA has confirmed that it is buying fuel at $40 less than current prices, and is now ripping off passengers by increasing its unavoidable fuel surcharges for the second time in a month.”
However, the budget carrier did raise baggage and airport check-in fees on 5 May - the checked in luggage fee went from ”6 to ”8 while check-in at the airport costs ”4 rather than ”3.