No cuts in Aer Lingus fuel charge

AER LINGUS said it has no immediate plans to lower its fuel surcharges despite a significant decline in the price of oil.

The airline said the charges are reviewed on a constant basis and will remain under active review.

Earlier this week British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa said they will cut fuel surcharges.

British Airways has reduced its fee for economy passengers on long-haul flights longer than nine hours to £96 (€124) from £109 (€140), while premium-economy customers will pay £114.50 (€147), a decline of 5.4%.

Fees for first and business-class travellers remain the same.

Lufthansa reduced its fees for domestic and European flights by 11% to €24 and long-haul flights by 5% to €92.

The reductions apply to all tickets bought starting October 20.

The two carriers are following Air France, Europe’s biggest carrier, and Virgin Atlantic in lowering the charges.

The moves follow a 49% drop in the price of oil after it reached a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11.

Shortly after this, Aer Lingus announced an increase in its long-haul fuel surcharge on four of its routes to the US, bringing to three the number of fuel surcharge increases this year.

Flights to Chicago increased from €75 to €85 per sector, while flights to Orlando increased from €85 to €95 per sector.

Flights to San Francisco and LA rose from €100 to €110 per sector.

In March Aer Lingus upped fuel surcharges between €5 and €10 for flights to New York, Boston and LA, while in May it announced the surcharge to US west coast destinations would rise from €75 to €90 and from €50 to €65 for east coast airports. The fuel fee for Orlando, Florida rose from €60 to €75.