Flag carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA), along with its regional arm SilkAir, will bundle its fuel and insurance surcharges with its base fares, in a bid to make computation of travel costs simpler for its passengers.
According to SIA, the changes will be gradually implemented, beginning on March 28, and are expected to be completed in May.
Fuel and insurance fees will also no longer be added to KrisFlyer frequent-flyer programme redemption bookings, starting March 23. Several other changes will also be made to KrisFlyer, such as the removal of a 15% discount for redemption bookings made online instead of through the call centre.
According to analysts, the airline’s move follows on from several other international airlines as the descent of jet fuel prices continues.
“With the price of oil having now moved down back into a more ‘normal’ range, a lot of airlines have unwound their fuel surcharges, so in some ways this move by SIA and SilkAir is them joining in line with other carriers at a time when competition is high,” Ellis Taylor, Asia finance editor at FlightGlobal told Today. “Removing the surcharges makes their pricing more transparent, and in some ways easier to compare to other airlines that have either dropped the charges or rolled them into the base fares.”
Prior to the move, passengers were complaining that airlines, despite low fuel prices, had not been rolling back fuel surcharges.
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