PAL hikes ticket prices

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Airlines (PAL) has announced a hike in ticket prices this week for most of its domestic flights, taking advantage of the busy summer break starting this month.

In a statement, the flag carrier said its fuel surcharge for flights between Manila and points in both Visayas and Mindanao would be increased by over 15 percent.

These fees are charged on top of basic ticket process to help airlines cope with the volatile movements in fuel prices. In its latest quarterly report, PAL said fuel made up over half of its expenses.

“Until further notice, we will adjust our fuel surcharge for operated domestic flights… Fuel surcharge for Manila to Luzon and vice versa will remain at status quo,” the airline said.

The hike in surcharges took effect on March 14. Passengers with tickets issued before March 14 will not be covered by the adjustment. PAL said holders of open-dated tickets would not be charged the higher fuel surcharges.

Passengers than bought tickets before March 14, but choose to rebook their flights will have to pay the difference in surcharges.

Earlier this month, PAL’s chief rival Cebu Pacific said it would implement its own hike in fuel surcharges for domestic flights. Cebu Pacific said it would double its fuel surcharge for domestic flights to P100 for every passenger— still lower than the amount charged by PAL.

Data from the International Air Transport Association showed that the price of jet fuel reached $139 per barrel as of the end of last week. This was 4.3 percent up from the start of the year and 5.4-percent up from the same week in 2011.

This translates to an average of $132.7 per barrel of jet fuel—which is more expensive than regular gasoline—since January.