A fuel surcharge of 5 euros (£3.50) per passenger sector is being imposed by VLM Airlines from tomorrow.
The airline operates from London City Airport to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Jersey, Liverpool, Luxemburg, Manchester and Rotterdam; Southampton-Brussels and Jersey and Guernsey to Rotterdam.
The airline said it had held off introducing a surcharge despite a six-fold increase in fuel prices in the last six years and a doubling in price since early 2004.
VLM’s fuel-efficient Fokker 50 aircraft have allowed the carrier to absorb increases in fuel prices up to now, but with present oil prices peaking above $60 per barrel, the carrier can no longer avoid a surcharge, a statement said.
Managing director Johan Vanneste said: “We have maintained a no fuel surcharge policy for as long as we could, but the impact on our cost base of these increased fuel bills has become unbearable for a niche company such as VLM Airlines.
“We cannot afford to have significant cost overruns for an extended period of time and therefore we have decided to introduce a relatively small fuel surcharge. With 5 euros per sector, this demonstrates the fuel efficient nature of our aircraft as the surcharge is less than half that of most of our competitors.”
Report by Phil Davies
