Thai airlines seek nod to add fuel surcharge to domestic flight tickets
The Thai Airlines Association on Thursday submitted a letter to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) urging the authority to consider allowing airlines to resume collecting fuel surcharge for domestic flights.
“Airlines are suffering from increasing operational costs due to the hike in fuel prices from the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” association president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth said. “We, therefore, urge the CAAT to allow us to collect fuel surcharge like in the past, by bundling the charge into the price of tickets.”
Puttipong added that the move would help mitigate the risk from fuel price fluctuation that airlines are facing. He added that the authority could revoke the fuel surcharge for domestic flights later when the global fuel prices return to normal.
Currently fuel surcharge is collected only on international flights, while aircraft fuel price has reached $100 per barrel compared to $70-80 per barrel at the end of 2021.
The Thai Airlines Association has seven airline members: Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, Thai AirAsia X, Thai Smile Airways, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air, and Thai Vietjet.