SEPANG: AirAsia Malaysia will be reintroducing fuel surcharge beginning March 8 for all its domestic and international flights.
The reintroduction of the fuel surcharge by AirAsia is to offset the escalating jet fuel prices, which has exceeded US$120 per barrel.
AirAsia has not been charging fuel surcharge since it was abolished in 2015.
The airline said it has been absorbing the oil price increase over the years.
The fuel surcharge will be applicable for new flight bookings made on and after March 8. All bookings made before March 8 will not be affected.
The fuel surcharge rates for all domestic routes within Malaysia is RM10 while rates for international routes within one to two hours is RM25.
The rates for international routes for two to three hours, three to four hours and more than four hours are RM35, RM50 and RM60, respectively.
AirAsia Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Riad Asmat said airlines the world over are affected by the rising oil prices and the continuous upward spiral caused by the situation in Eastern Europe and other external factors have made it imperative for the airlines to reintroduce the fuel surcharge, despite the low-cost operator's best efforts to resist it for as long as it could.
"Since we last abolished fuel surcharges in 2015 when the global fuel price was as low as US$48 a barrel, we have faced numerous occasions when the fluctuations have caused other airlines to start imposing surcharges.
"However, at AirAsia, we have been absorbing past increases in oil prices to continue to provide the best value to our guests. Unfortunately, the current situation where the oil price has shot up more than 160 per cent than what it was in 2015 has made it no longer sustainable," he said in a statement today.
Riad hoped that the fuel surcharge will only be a temporary measure.
He said AirAsia will continue to ensure its fares remain as low as possible despite the fuel surcharge.
Even when faced with the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, AirAsia still managed to deflect the rising operational costs and continued to offer low fares to the people, he explained.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and at the same time capitalise on technological and digital innovations as ways to keep costs at bay and make air travel affordable for everyone."
AirAsia removed its fuel surcharge twice in the past. It first introduced a fuel surcharge in 2005 and abolished it in 2008, and later reintroduced it in 2011.
In 2015, the jet fuel price was at its high of US$78 per barrel but AirAsia removed the fuel surcharge as soon as the price went down to around US$48 per barrel that year.