Budget carrier AirAsia said on Monday that it will introduce a fuel surcharge on its flights for the first time from tomorrow as part of efforts to combat spiraling fuel costs.
"Fuel is the single largest cost component for the company; the fuel surcharge will allow the company to alleviate the escalating fuel costs," the carrier said in an announcement to the stock exchange.
AirAsia said the surcharge would be 5.0 ringgit per sector (US$1.32) for flights within Malaysia, 10.0 ringgit per sector for flights to East Malaysia and 25.0 ringgit per sector to Thailand, Indonesia, Macau and the Philippines.
"The fuel surcharge is expected to contribute positively to AirAsia's consolidated earnings for the financial year ending 30 June 2006," it said.
"There is an urgent need for the government to resolve the calls for domestic air-services rationalization," AirAsia's chief executive officer Tony Fernandes was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.
"The move would mutually benefit both [Malaysia Airlines] and AirAsia as a consolidation can help airlines curb high operational costs due to spikes in fuel prices," added Fernandes, who recently said both airlines were in negotiations over domestic routes.
AirAsia's announcement follows a similar move by Malaysia Airlines, which last week said it will raise its fuel surcharge for international travel from Friday.
Fernandes said AirAsia would monitor the situation and "consider reducing or scrapping the fee if fuel prices returned to normalized levels."
AirAsia, which launched as a budget carrier in December 2001 with just two aircraft, is now Southeast Asia's biggest low-cost carrier in terms of fleet size.
Meanwhile, AirAsia said yesterday it has resumed talks with Hong Kong on launching flights there, saying the territory's officials seem open to the possibility.
"Yes, some of our officials have been there for talks," a spokeswoman for the Malaysian-based airline said on condition of anonymity.
Her comments confirm a report in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper on Monday that AirAsia and Hong Kong Airport Authority officials have resumed negotiations on the issue, about a year after they ended abruptly.
Neither side explained why the talks broke down, but there has been speculation that the high costs of using Hong Kong's airport were the main factor.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RSS