British Airways, the flag carrier of United Kingdom, announced an additional £60 fuel surcharges on its long-distance return flights. The biggest rise in fuel surcharge in the carrier's history comes just a month after its earlier price rise.
The rise in BA's fuel surcharge will mean an additional burden of £200 on a family of four that is already paying £672 in surcharges.
The fuel surcharge comes at a time when households are struggling with high food and fuel bills and only weeks ahead of the beginning of the holiday season. More than 5 million travellers a month will leave from UK airports and around 1.2 million of these will travel with BA.
The carrier's announcement will be out of favour of parents, who are already paying a premium for travelling during the school holidays.
This rise took the surcharge on a journey of 9 hours, which would include destinations like Bangkok and Los Angeles, to £218 from £158, while the surcharge on shorter journeys including to New York will go up to £156 from £126.
The cost of a short-haul return flight will also be increased by £6, taking the surcharge from £26 to £32.`
Simon Evans, Chief Executive of the Air Transport Users Council, the traveller watchdog, said that the rises were bad news for families.
He said, "Combined with the planned increase in Air Passenger Duty, this will be another blow for families who have already seen other costs rise from groceries to motoring and domestic fuel".
