Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific plans to lower fuel surcharges by up to HK$198 ($25) starting next month.
According to a post on the airline’s website on Tuesday, the surcharge for flights between Hong Kong and the southwest Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, will drop from HK$1,362 to HK$1,164.
Travelers from and to South Asia will benefit from a surcharge reduction from HK$633 to HK$541, and short-haul passengers will see their charges drop from HK$339 to HK$290. Meanwhile, Chinese mainland charges are frozen at HK$165 for Hong Kong-origin flights and 135 yuan ($20) for mainland-origin departures, unchanged from the levels that took effect on May 16.
The airline explained that the cost of jet fuel — derived from crude oil through refining — consists of both the crude oil cost and the refinery process. The price of both of these elements has risen sharply since March and is still holding at elevated levels.
Cathay said it will continue to review the fuel surcharge every two weeks to better capture jet fuel price movements to flexibly respond to the volatile jet fuel prices due to the Middle East situation, and this increased frequency is intended as “a temporary measure and will be revisited when the Middle East situation stabilizes”.
