J M
- Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines have applied for the imposition of fuel surcharge in airfares to offset the increasing expenses
- Both airlines have submitted petitions and the board has begun the review
Attention to all Filipinos who love to travel! Don’t get surprised as airplane tickets for both domestic and foreign flights may start increasing in price as the country’s two largest airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines have applied for the imposition of fuel surcharge in airfares to offset and reduce their increasing expenses.
Cebu Air Inc.’s CEO Lance Gokongwei revealed that the airline’s costs have been increasing for as far as Php700 million in a month since a year ago. The reason behind it is the rising price of fuel. Not only that, the decline of Philippine’s peso also has a huge effect.
Gokongwei said that they will have to adjust the prices accordingly and stated that Cebu Pacific has filed a petition to add a fuel surcharge in its fares to cover the increasing cost of aviation fuel. Another spokesperson also mentioned that the airline already submitted its application to the regulator – which is the Civil Aeronautics Board or CAB – last early May.
Cebu Pacific is not the only one as PAL also filed its petition to impose a fuel surcharge several months earlier, December 2017. They stated that the airline spends an additional $11 million for every one dollar increase in the price of a barrel of aviation fuel.
A representative of the CAB confirmed that they have received the petitions of the two airlines and have begun to preview the said applications.
According to UE Energy Information Administration, as of the third week of May, the global price of jet fuel has hit $2.21 per gallon which is a 57 per cent increase compared to its price from the same period last year.
