AIRASIA Malaysia will be reintroducing fuel surcharges for all its domestic and international flights to offset rising jet fuel prices, which has breached US$120 per barrel.
The fuel surcharge would take effect on March 8.
“Airlines across the globe are affected by the rising oil prices, the situation in Eastern Europe and other external factors which made it imperative for us to reintroduce the fuel surcharge, despite our efforts to resist it for as long as we could,” AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said, in a statement.
The new surcharge rate is as follows:
It is to note that AirAsia had twice removed its fuel surcharge. They first introduced it in 2005 and abolished it in 2008.
They later brought it back in 2011 and removed it in 2015 as jet fuel prices dipped to US$48 per barrel.
Elaborating on the matter, Riad said that despite fluctuations in jet fuel prices since then, AirAsia has been absorbing the cost so as to provide the best value to its customers.
However, he noted the current situation has become untenable, given that oil prices have shot up to more than 160% of its value back in 2015.
“We hope this will only be a temporary measure. AirAsia will continue to ensure our fares remain as low as possible despite the fuel surcharge while other carriers were already adjusting fares and increasing fuel and admin charges to counter rising operating costs as early as 2018.
“Even when faced with COVID-19, we still managed to deflect rising operational costs and continued to offer low fares to the people,” Riad quipped.
He remarked: “We will continue to monitor the situation and capitalise on technological innovations to keep costs low and make air travel affordable for everyone.” – March 5, 2022
