By means of Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter
The airline tickets will probably increase after the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) has increased the fuel surcharge level of the passengers for March.
In a advice on Tuesday, CAB increased the surcharge from the passenger fuel to level 5 for March of Level 4 in February.
This is the first time that CAB has increased the allowance of the passenger fuel in the past five months, because the surcharge had remained at level 4 since October last year.
At level 5, the fuel surcharge varies for domestic flights from P151 to P542. For international flights, the supplement is P498.03 to P3.703.11.
For airlines that collect the fuel surcharge in foreign currency, the applicable rate for the period P58.46 is a dollar, Cab said.
Currently, at level 4, the passenger fuel surcharge between P117 and P342 is for domestic flights and between P385.70 and P2.867,82 for international flights from the Philippines.
Cebu Pacific said that despite the increase in fuel surcharges for March, it will continue to offer the best rates for his passengers.
“With the approaching of summers, we encourage our passengers to book early and take advantage of our lowest rates,” said Cebu Pacific President and Chief Commercial Officer Alexander G. Lao in a statement.
Steve F. Dailisan, Head of Communication and Public Affairs at Airasia Philippines, said that the higher fuel surcharge would have a minimal impact on the travel costs for his passengers.
“Despite the adjustments, Airasia remains fully committed to fulfilling our brand promise to make air travel safe, accessible and trouble -free,” said Mr. Dailisan.
A fuel surcharge can be collected by airlines based on the movement of the aircraft fuel prices, with the help of a benchmark that is known as MOPs (average of Platts Singapore).
The global average aircraft fuel price rose per week on 14 February by 0.5% to $ 93.11 per barrel.
Year-on-year, the global average aircraft fuel price fell by 3%, according to reports from the fuel price monitoring by the International Air Transport Association.
In the meantime, the volume of the air passenger balloon in 2024 to 59.91 million, which, according to the CAB, is approaching its pre-Pandemic peak as a result of flowering domestic trips.
Domestic passenger volume in 2024 grew to 32.13 million, which marked an increase of 10.9% compared to the previous year, while the international passenger volume rose by 12% to 27.78 million, said CAB director Carmelo L. Arcilla In an e-mail to an e-mail to Business world.
Data from the website of CAB showed that in 2023 the domestic passenger solume was 28.97 million, while the international passenger volume was recorded at 24.81 million. In 2019, CAB recorded a peak of 60.07 million total passenger traffic, mainly driven by international passenger traffic.