British Airways increases fuel surcharge

British Airways is increasing the fuel surchare on all tickets by as much as £15. The airline will bring in the changes on November 15, it announced today (November 12).

There will be a £2 increase in the charge on short-haul flights from £8 to £10 and there will be a £10 to £48 on flights on long-haul flight of less than nine hours. On flights longer than nine hours, there will be a £15 hike to £58, meaning that £116 would be added to the cost of a return ticket.

BA commercial director, Robert Boyle, says: “The cost of oil has reached record levels, rising by more than $20 per barrel since we last increased our fuel surcharge in June 2007. “

The airline adds that it “expects the cost of fuel to increase by £136m in the second half of the current financial year, with the total fuel bill for the year anticipated to exceed £2bn for the first time”.

BA first introduced a fuel surcharge in May 2004, but earlier this year it was fined £270m after admitting it had fixed the price of fuel surcharges with Virgin Atlantic.