Three airlines in Malaysia – the AirAsia group, Firefly and Malindo Air – have abolished fuel surcharges, ensuring a cheaper air fare for those travelling around the region.
Effective yesterday, Malindo and AirAsia group and its long haul affiliates AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia X removed their fuel surcharges. According to The Star, Firefly was the first to remove its fuel surcharge for all its flights effective 16 January. Previously, fuel surcharge imposed by AirAsia and its group were around RM20 to RM150. Firefly imposed about RM35 to RM45 and Malindo imposed a surcharge of RM20 for domestic routes.
It is not clear if Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will follow suit.
According to The Star, “Fuel surcharge is a levy imposed in addition to the airfare to help airlines pay for their fuel cost when oil prices were rising. There were times when the fuel surcharge was higher than the actual fare. Fuel is a key operating cost for airlines making up 30% to 50% of operating expense.”
Since 2011, travelers have had to foot the fuel bill for airlines and the removal of these costs will definitely make a difference especially to frequent travelers.
The removal of fuel surcharge is due to crude oil prices falling by more than 50% to less than US$50 (RM180) a barrel. It was reported in The Star yesterday, that crude oil prices hovered around US$45 (RM162) a barrel.
Story from: The Star
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Good to hear!