Cheaper plane fares coming in Sept with fuel surcharge cuts

When the Filipino Christmas celebrations start next month, airline passengers will receive an early Yuletide gift: cheaper plane tickets.

The Civil Aeronautics Board, in its recent advisory, agreed to downgrade the fuel surcharge from the current Level 6 to Level 5 effective September.

Under Level 5, airlines are allowed to collect fuel surcharges of P151 to P542 for domestic flights while those flying outside the country will charge additional P498.03 to P3,703.11 each.

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These prices are lower compared with Level 6 rates, which range from P185 to P665 for domestic routes and P610.37 to P4,538.40. for international flights.

Fuel surcharges are additional fees collected 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 each seat.

Next month, passengers flying from Manila to Caticlan, Legazpi, Kalibo and Roxas will shell out an additional P238 while those going to Iloilo, Cebu, Bacolod and Puerto Princesa will pay fuel surcharge of P316. The applicable surcharge for flights to Dumaguete, Tagbilaran, Surigao and Siargao will be P418 while flights to Zamboanga, Cotabato and Davao will carry a surcharge of P487.

Passengers going to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam will pay an additional amount of P498.03 while those flying to China will be charged P676.20 on top of the base fare.

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The surcharge to be collected for flights to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia will be P688.79; Indonesia, Japan and South Korea, P774.75; Australia and Middle East, P1,713.68; and New Zealand and Honolulu, 2,163.32. In the Philippines, Christmas celebrations start in September and end in January. This period is usually a peak season for travel and consumer spending.

The airlines are taking advantage of the optimism with the launch of new routes here and abroad, in addition to the acquisition of new aircraft to increase passenger capacity.

But while a lower fuel surcharge will be implemented next month, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista previously said that terminal fees at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the country’s main international gateway, would increase from around P500 to P550 at present to P950 next year.

The hike is needed to compensate San Miguel Corp.-led New Naia Infrastructure Corp. (NNIC), which recently bagged the deal to undertake the P170.6-billion airport rehabilitation project.

NNIC is set to take over the operations and maintenance of Naia next month.