Record high fuel surcharges deal blow to travelers

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Record high fuel surcharges deal blow to travelers

People line up at the departures terminal at Incheon International Airport on April 18. [NEWS1]

People line up at the departures terminal at Incheon International Airport on April 18. [NEWS1]

 
Lifted quarantine restrictions are bringing air travel back, but a record high fuel surcharge is dealing a blow to travelers’ wallets.  
 
Fully-vaccinated tourists coming to Korea have been exempt from the seven-day quarantine starting April 1, increasing travel demand. Travel has been made easier, but high fuel surcharges has made ticket prices more costly than ever. 
 
Fuel surcharge for Korean Air Lines’ one-way international flights will range between a minimum 33,800 won ($27.30) to a maximum 256,100 won starting May. That’s an 18.2 percent on month increase for the lower range and a 20.9 percent on month rise for the upper range.  
 
Cities such as New York, Chicago and Boston require passengers to pay the highest in the range due to the flight distance, while closer destinations such as Dalian, Shenyang and Fukuoka cost less.
 
The surcharge for May is decided by the average price of jet fuel traded on Singapore’s commodity market between March 16 and April 15. During the one-month period, the average price was 318.23 cents per gallon, up 11.2 percent on month.  
 
Jet fuel prices began to increase because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began at the end of February. An overall surge in energy prices worldwide is also pulling up prices.
 
The fuel surcharge is increasing at Asiana Airlines as well.  
 
The carrier’s one-way international flights will have a minimum fuel surcharge of 35,400 won starting May, up 21.6 percent on month. The upper range will be 197,900 won, up 29.4 percent.
 
Both carriers’ figures are a record-high since July 2016, when companies started to levy fuel surcharge based on flight distance.  
 
Domestic flights are no exception. Both Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines will raise the fuel surcharge for domestic flights from 9,900 won in April to 14,300 won in May, up 44.4 percent on month. 
 
“There aren't that many international flights and this will cause airfares for long distance flights to continue to rise, even more than the fuel surcharge increase,” said Park Su-young, an analyst at Hanwha Investment & Securities.  
 
Carriers have been suspending international flights since the outbreak of Covid-19 and are no near to recovering to pre-pandemic numbers. A total of 420 international flights per week are scheduled to take off from Incheon International Airport in April, down 91 percent compared to 4,770 per week in 2019.  
 
Despite expensive tickets, travelers are willing to pay after not being able to go overseas for almost two years.  
 
On e-commerce website Gmarket, sales of international flight tickets between March 11 and April 10 rose 876 percent on year. Ticket buyers’ top picks were popular tourist destinations such as Cambodia, Los Angeles and Hawaii. Sales of group tour packages rose 781 percent on year during the same period. 

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]
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