Airfares steady in December with fuel surcharge unchanged

MANILA, Philippines — Travelers will not see any adjustments in their airfares next month as fuel surcharges that airlines are allowed to collect will remain the same.

The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), in its latest advisory, said the applicable passenger and cargo fuel surcharge for domestic and international flights for the month of December would remain at Level 4.

This will be the third straight month that the applicable passenger and cargo fuel surcharge will be at Level 4.

Under Level 4 on the CAB’s matrix, airlines can charge a fuel surcharge of P117 to P342 for domestic flights and P385.70 to P2,867.82 for international trips.

According to the CAB, airlines planning to collect fuel surcharge for December must file its application with the agency before the effectivity period.

The fuel surcharge rates should not exceed the amount stated under Level 4.

For fuel surcharge to be collected in equivalent currency, the CAB set the conversion rate at P57.89 to $1.

The applicable fuel surcharge is determined based on a one-month average of jet fuel MOPS (Mean of Platts Singapore) prices in its peso per liter equivalent and will be fixed for immediately succeeding month.

Airlines are allowed to collect fuel surcharge that are lower than the stated level to compete with other carriers.

The CAB said the fuel surcharge is an optional fee, imposed and collected by airlines to recover fuel costs and stem losses caused by upward spikes in fuel cost.

It said fuel surcharge is not a part of the basic airfare and maybe reduced or removed depending on the price of jet fuel in the market.