Ivan Camilleri, Brussels
Air Malta to ditch fuel surcharge... eventually
Air Malta plans to eliminate the fuel surcharge slapped on passengers' tickets but is waiting until November to make the move even though the cost of jet fuel oil has fallen drastically in the past months.
Passengers flying on the national airline are paying a steep €50 fuel surcharge on most return flights to Malta, while flying to Moscow, Sofia, Istanbul, Manchester and Birmingham are forking out an additional €2 because of the flight's longer duration.
An Air Malta spokesman confirmed the company had just decided to totally eliminate the "fuel surcharge part" on its tickets from November and would instead be adding "some" of the fuel costs to the original ticket price, without specifying the amount.
Air Malta originally introduced the fuel surcharge in April 2004 and increased it every time the price of fuel went up. In July the price of jet fuel reached a peak at $147 a barrel. But since then it has plummeted.
Major international airlines have reduced their fuel surcharge but Air Malta has held out and will be retaining the full €50 for another six months during its peak season.
The airline's reasoning is that the surcharge does not cover the full added fuel burden the company is incurring.
"Despite having raised the fuel surcharge a couple of times over the last few years, Air Malta had made it clear the price increases were only covering a minor percentage of the rise in fuel costs being borne by the airline," the spokesman said.
According to the company, it was committed to meet the remaining shortfall through further cost reductions and increased efficiencies.
The airline added that the price of fuel had a massive impact on its financial performance. Its average fuel cost during the last financial year (which ended on March 31) was $115 per barrel.
These figures show the financial extent to which the airline was hit when, at the height of the tourist season, it had to buy fuel at record high prices.
"Due to these increases in 2008 Air Malta has seen its fuel bill rise by €30 million," the spokesman added.
The bill this year should be much lower than last year's because according to the international airline trade body, IATA, the average fuel price for 2009 should be at $57.7 a barrel.
Admitting that fuel should be cheaper this year, Air Malta said it had decided to eliminate the fuel surcharge within six months. KM tickets from November are already being sold without a fuel surcharge on Air Malta's web portal.
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R.Zammit
Apr 22nd 2009, 19:54
@Peter Murrey: The tax payer has NEVER paid a cent to Air Malta, let alone it being a burden. On the contrary, Air Malta has paid hundreds of millions of Euros to the Governmnet coffers (and thus to tax payers) over the years in corporate and income tax.
@ Jean Pierre Tabone Adami: The figure you quoted is passengers carried in 2008. I don't think that you can just double them, as you did, and say they were all return passengers. The table you quoted states "Passengers boarded" so just like Ryanair does, the number of passengers quoted in the statistics includes most individual passengers twice. (When Ryanair says it will carry 100,000 passengers, it means 50,000 individuals or less, many of whom are Maltese or local residents, not tourists).
Furthermore, the statement says the fuel bill rose by, and not to €30 million, which means €30 million over and above the projected (budgeted) fuel bill.
J.Spiteri
Apr 22nd 2009, 18:10
AirMalta is a good service no doubt about it, I always supported you but you gone beyond the point of not backing you anymore, so now we fly with Easyjet , not a happy situation but alot cheaper than AirMalta, and when the sterling is down, we expats have to choose the cheapest flights.
Oh by the way, why is it cheaper to book from UK to Malta ? shameful, you are cheating your own public who always supported you !!!
F Sant Fournier
Apr 22nd 2009, 12:08
Too little too late!
Air Malta have already alienated many customers who have found their surcharge a rip off.
Anabelle Gauci
Apr 22nd 2009, 10:55
@Jean-Pierre Tabone Adami
As far as I know the only increase in fuel surcharge in 2008 was of 5Eur in July 08.
Therefore in 2008 the airline recouped around €7.7million more when the airline fuel bill (also in 2008) increased by €30million.
From these figures in 2008 alone Air Malta lost at least €22.3million from fuel.
The airline's figures thus seem consistent.
Peter Murray
Apr 22nd 2009, 10:45
Wow!What a magnificent concesion by Air Malta. but they need to first ensure that they are still in business come next November(more burdens on the tax-payer no doubt) and that it isn't only trhe fuel surcharge that is finally ditched.What if the price of fuel rises during this interim period?These statements are full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies and whilst acknowledging that Air Malta's service is superior to some other airlines,their prices are excessively high and disproportionate when like-with-like is compared,and this will ultimately reflect in their balance of statements for 2009,despite still inflicting passengers with this unwarranted fuel surcharge payment for nearly all of the year.
Jean-Pierre Tabone Adami
Apr 22nd 2009, 10:01
Quoting from the article:
"The airline's reasoning is that the surcharge does not cover the full added fuel burden the company is incurring."
"Due to these increases in 2008 Air Malta has seen its fuel bill rise by €30 million..."
The Air Malta passenger figures for 2008 http://files.aea.be/News/PR/Pr09-003.pdf show that the airline carried 1.538 million passengers in 2008. If these paid a fuel surcharge of €25 per sector (€50 per return flight) then this adds up to over €38 million. The airline's statement that the surcharge does not cover the added fuel burden seems inconsitent.
The statement that the airline will carry out "further cost reductions and increased efficiencies" can only be applauded. This means that in the medium-long term the country will be chosen by more vacationers who are currently attracted to myriad other sun and sea destinations by cheaper airfares.