Gunship
7th Apr 2005, 07:03
The soaring oil price, which moved to a record $58 (R356) a barrel this week, has further pushed up the cost of international flights on most airlines.
But SAA has held its fuel levy unchanged at $15 a sector on domestic flights and on the popular Johannesburg to Hong Kong route.
SAA still codeshares with Cathay Pacific Airways on that route, with the two airlines carrying each other's passengers.
But, on most of its intercontinental routes, with the exception of Tel Aviv on which SAA's passengers are carried by Israeli airline El Al and Dubai where they are carried by Emirates, the levy has risen from $25 a sector to $30
" We are not making profit from this. It's recovering the extra expenditure"
. To and from Tel Aviv and oil-rich Dubai, the levy is $5 per sector. To and from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the levy is $20.
Onkgopotse JJ Tabane, SAA's communications vice-president, said the levy had fluctuated with the oil price since May last year.
Levies charged by most other full-service airlines have also fluctuated and some have not yet raised them in line with the latest oil price increases.
Peter Griffiths, the financial director of Nationwide, said the the fuel price hike had forced it to raise the levy on its London flights "substantially" to $57 from $30. It also had to raise the levy on all domestic flights by $5.
"We are not making any profit from this. It is simply recovering the extra expenditure on fuel. We are watching the situation very carefully because we cannot price ourselves out of the market.
"If we find we are doing so, we cut our price and take the loss. It is a very transparent process," Griffiths said.
Among other airlines still holding its levies steady is Kenya Airways. Joyce Aleksic, its general manager in South Africa, said it was "still sitting on the fence" about a further rise.
She said Kenya Airways had 65 percent passenger loads on flights between Johannesburg and Nairobi. It was about to suspend flights to Cape Town for the season, and resume again in October.
Giovanni Bisignani, the director-general of the International Air Transport Association, said if the oil price averaged $43 a barrel, it would cost the industry $76 billion this year.
But SAA has held its fuel levy unchanged at $15 a sector on domestic flights and on the popular Johannesburg to Hong Kong route.
SAA still codeshares with Cathay Pacific Airways on that route, with the two airlines carrying each other's passengers.
But, on most of its intercontinental routes, with the exception of Tel Aviv on which SAA's passengers are carried by Israeli airline El Al and Dubai where they are carried by Emirates, the levy has risen from $25 a sector to $30
" We are not making profit from this. It's recovering the extra expenditure"
. To and from Tel Aviv and oil-rich Dubai, the levy is $5 per sector. To and from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the levy is $20.
Onkgopotse JJ Tabane, SAA's communications vice-president, said the levy had fluctuated with the oil price since May last year.
Levies charged by most other full-service airlines have also fluctuated and some have not yet raised them in line with the latest oil price increases.
Peter Griffiths, the financial director of Nationwide, said the the fuel price hike had forced it to raise the levy on its London flights "substantially" to $57 from $30. It also had to raise the levy on all domestic flights by $5.
"We are not making any profit from this. It is simply recovering the extra expenditure on fuel. We are watching the situation very carefully because we cannot price ourselves out of the market.
"If we find we are doing so, we cut our price and take the loss. It is a very transparent process," Griffiths said.
Among other airlines still holding its levies steady is Kenya Airways. Joyce Aleksic, its general manager in South Africa, said it was "still sitting on the fence" about a further rise.
She said Kenya Airways had 65 percent passenger loads on flights between Johannesburg and Nairobi. It was about to suspend flights to Cape Town for the season, and resume again in October.
Giovanni Bisignani, the director-general of the International Air Transport Association, said if the oil price averaged $43 a barrel, it would cost the industry $76 billion this year.