Fuel fee cuts to help lower airline prices next month

Tickets for flights abroad on Korea’s two international carriers will be cheaper by up to $9 next month, as airlines take heed of falling oil prices.
Korean Air and Asiana Airlines plan to cut fuel surcharges for flights abroad for the second straight month.
“Aviation fuel prices on the international market have been falling. Depending on routes as much as $9 will be lowered for the fuel surcharge,” said Yoon Joonnoh, general manager at Asiana Airlines, Korea’s No. 2 carrier.
A fuel surcharge is a fee added to the ticket cost by an airline to cover the increased cost of fuel; usually it is lumped onto the cost of a ticket as if it were a tax. Surcharges reached a peak in January 2006, but have dropped this month and will fall again next month.
The price of fuel oil hovered at $1.66 a gallon on the Singaporean spot market between Jan. 16 and Feb. 15, airlines said, down from $1.75 the previous month.
A surcharge of $6 for routes linking Fukuoka, Japan and Busan or Jeju Island for instance, could be reduced to $5 next month.
Air routes between Korea and China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia could introduce $18 surcharges, down from the current $22. Flights to the United States, Oceania and Europe could be $9 cheaper, going from $43 to $34.
That means more tickets to China will be priced at around 100,000 won ($107), according to airlines.
Industry watchers forecast consecutive cuts of international flight ticket prices will boost the number of outbound tourists in the coming spring.

By Hwang Young-jin Staff Writer [yhwang@joongang.co.kr]