British Airways increases fuel surcharge

British Airways has announced that it is to increase the fuel surcharge on all of its tickets from June 3rd.

As a result of continuing rises in the price of oil, the airline will now charge a surcharge of £16 for a single short-haul flight, which is doubled for a return journey.

Passengers taking a long-haul flight of less than nine hours will be charged £78 per single flight and £156 for a return trip, while those on journeys longer than nine hours will see a surcharge of £109 for a single flight and £218 to fly both ways.

Similar increases will take place outside of the UK, British Airways said.

The announcement came as Virgin Atlantic revealed that it is to levy lower fuel surcharges on economy passengers compared with those in premium cabins.

It said that this is to take into account the different amounts of fuel burned by passengers in each cabin, as well as differing baggage allowances.

"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," Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway remarked.

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