Emirates removes fuel surcharges on flights

DUBAI // Emirates Airline today announced the removal of fuel surcharges on plane tickets, citing a recent decrease in fuel prices.

"We promised our customers from the outset that we would eliminate the surcharge as soon as it was commercially viable," Tim Clark, the president of the airline, said in a statement.

Last month, for example, the airline began imposing a surcharge of up to Dh1,040 for a return business-class ticket to the Americas, blaming the increases on rising oil prices.

Economy-class tickets for the same flights rose by Dh300.

At the time of the increase, a spokeswoman for the carrier said it had incurred substantial costs by absorbing recent increases in the price of oil, and that the surcharge would allow the airline to respond more quickly to the market. She also said the surcharge would be continuously reviewed.

Those charges now have been removed.

The surcharge was imposed at a time when the price of oil had reached US$110 (Dh404). Today, the crude oil price was listed by Bloomberg at $97 a barrel.

mdetrie@thenational.ae