No increase in fuel surcharge for October, but airfares remain elevated

With just a minor adjustment in jet fuel prices, airline passengers will be paying the same amount for fuel surcharge next month, according to a recent advisory from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).

The regulator said fuel surcharge would be at Level 9 for October, the same level it approved for this month. Under Level 9, passengers will be charged P287 to P839 individually for domestic flights while fuel surcharge for international flights ranges from P947.39 to P7,044.27.

“For August 10 to September 2022, the price of jet fuel averaged P47.27 per liter, which corresponds to Level 9 of the passenger and cargo fuel surcharge matrix,” CAB said. Monitoring showed that jet fuel price averaged slightly lower previously at P46.73 per liter.

Fuel surcharges are additional fees by airlines to help them recover fuel costs. These are separate from the base fare, which is the actual amount paid by the passenger for his or her seat.

Matrix

Based on the fuel surcharge matrix under Level 9, passengers will have to pay P410 for flights from Manila to Caticlan and Kalibo and P571 for flights to Iloilo, Bacolod and Puerto Princesa. For flights to Dumaguete, Tagbilaran, Surigao and Siargao from Manila, the surcharge amounts to P726.

Passengers flying to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Brunei will be paying P947.39 on top of other fees. The applicable fuel surcharge for flights to Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Guam is P1,310.26, while airlines may collect P6,708.83 for flights to North America, United Kingdom and Netherlands.

For cargoes, surcharge is P1.47 to P4.31 per kilo for domestic flights and P4.87 to P36.21 per kilo for international flights.

Seat sales

Budget airline Cebu Pacific recently offered seat sales for domestic and international flights to encourage more passengers to travel.

“We are encouraged to see more people confidently flying nowadays, not only within the Philippines but internationally as well. It has always been our core mission to stimulate travel so we are excited to offer yet another special seat sale as we enter the –ber months,” Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and customer experience Candice Iyog said.

AirAsia introduced this month a feature called “Airasia Holidays” in its super app that allows users to customize itinerary and add flights and hotel bookings covering Southeast Asia. “Airasia Holidays offers our app users a more robust, holistic and convenient booking experience with our capabilities as an airline and in hotel inventory management,” AirAsia Super App CEO Amanda Woo said.

Philippine Airlines, meanwhile, recently launched the Singapore Boarding Pass Privilege, which gives Singapore-bound passengers 28 exclusive perks.

The promotion, in partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board, is aimed at boosting travel between the two nations to support tourism and economic recovery after the long pandemic. INQ