JAL to decrease international fare fuel surcharge from Jan 1

Tuesday 18th November, 05:25 AM JST

TOKYO —

Japan Airlines announced Monday that it will decrease the fuel surcharge placed on all international passenger tickets issued for the 3-month period starting Jan 1, 2009. The new
surcharges per person per sector flown on tickets purchased in Japan, range from 2,500 yen on a Japan-Korea ticket, down from 4,000 yen, to 26,000 yen on a Japan-Brazil ticket, down from 38,000 yen. The surcharge per person per sector on a Japan to Canada, Europe, Mexico,
Middle East, Oceania or U.S. (excluding Hawaii) will go down from 33,000 yen to 22,000 yen.

The surcharge will be progressively reduced as the price of fuel decreases, and will be canceled completely if the price of Singapore kerosene stays below the benchmark of $60 per barrel, JAL said. The price of fuel during the 3 month period from August-October averaged $115.92 per barrel. This is substantially down on the average of $163.54 per barrel for the 3-month period prior to that.

The fuel surcharge charged for tickets issued from April to June 2009 will be reviewed based on the average price of fuel for November 2008 through to January, 2009.

JAL said it will continue conducting a wide range of countermeasures to limit the full impact of the price increase including fuel hedging, fuel consumption reductions, and the introduction of more fuel-efficient small and medium-sized aircraft to its fleet.

Latest 15 of 16 Total Comments Show All

sk4ek at 08:01 AM JST - 18th November

Crude oil and airplane fuel are not the same thing. I hope they cut back the surcharge to Honolulu too, last time it was almost 50,000 yen... :-/
bushlover at 08:17 AM JST - 18th November

Airplane fuel comes from Crude Oil. All petroleum products come from Crude Oil. Their price is directly proportional to the cost of Crude.
Pukey2 at 08:17 AM JST - 18th November

They already reduced the surcharge on some other airlines (for flights GOING, not departing from, Japan). Note how the fuel surcharge reduction doesn't come into effect until AFTER the new year, when most people have already done their traveling.
some14some at 08:36 AM JST - 18th November

Strong Yen and falling oil prices give double advantage to Japan, still they continue with high surcharge...shouganai !
soldave at 09:08 AM JST - 18th November

Suppose they are managing to save money by doing less maintenance on their aircraft.
tkoind2 at 09:46 AM JST - 18th November

Good. Let's hope the rest of the airlines get with the program too.

Just returned from a trip abroad. Greedy airlines are charging for every little thing they can think to tack a price tag to. And their service (NORTHWEST/DELTA) is absolute crap.

Self check in sucks and does not allow for any human interaction to address concerns. Staff are peevish and grumpy (especially in the US)and the quality of food makes old airline food seem hightly attractive.

JAL if you keep your fares reasonable with lower fuel costs, you'll have one more customer because your service is far and away better than US airlines.
nandakandamanda at 09:50 AM JST - 18th November

Jam tomorrow.

Who does business in three-month chunks nowadays?
Sarge at 09:57 AM JST - 18th November

"tickets purchased in Japan"

Rip-off!
fds at 11:40 AM JST - 18th November

too bad their "fuel surcharge" has no relation to their fuel cost as its not required by law. otherwise explain how the "fuel surcharge" for australia is less than for hawaii.
gyouza at 01:48 PM JST - 18th November

"Purchased in Japan" is needed because of currency fluctuations. Purcahsed elsewhere will involved converting at a rate at a specific point in time - no point stating it here because it will change weekly. I'm sure the charge will drop in other countries, but bear in mind a lot depends on where the fuel itself is purchased, and the fact that it is proced in USD.

Scanning the numbers quickly above, it looks like the avergae price difference of a barrel of Jet A has dropped 30%, and the charge has dropped by a bit more than that (34%ish for most, short haul by a lot more) - so it isn't all doom and gloom. As long as they stick to the trend it should get cheaper to travel. Check here to see price of Jet A http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/economics/fuel_monitor/index.htm

Also, bear in mind that airlines buy fuel in bilk with contracts up front to try to have a predicatble cost base, this means that if price of fuel drops on the market, the airline may be still paying under a contract at a higher price.

We all want to travel as cheap as possible, and airlines want our business, but above all, airlines want to stay in business and sometimes we will get hit with charges like this.

Sidenote, all airlines should list the surcharge in any advertising - I saw Air France advertising EU flights at 66k yesterday - plus ~70k in tax and surcharge! Copying BA?
a43Minami at 03:44 PM JST - 18th November

That conduction which JAL is going to do, is really good for people who want to enjoy their traveling life I think. Before JAl said that news, I was thinking and doubting about the price of fright and fuel surcharge. Because oil chrge is going to be expensive recently so oil became expensive for car, it means gas. That why the flight prices became expensive.

Then oil is going to cheap now and flight price isn't going to cheap. All of flight company didn't do price down, so that why I'm really thinking about this and doubting.

But according this article, JAL is going to decrease their conducting flight tickets down, so we can get those ticket with reasonable price. I think other flight companies should decrease their flight tickets price down.

How do you think about that??
ilcub76 at 07:26 PM JST - 18th November

Nov 10, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's AirAsia on Tuesday abolished fuel surcharges on all its flights and said it will give away half a million free tickets next year in an attempt to lure travelers amid the global slowdown.

They should have followed the lead of Air Asia and done away with the surcharges altogether. Free tickets wouldn't be a bad idea either!
Mark_McCracken at 12:35 AM JST - 19th November

JAL if you keep your fares reasonable with lower fuel costs, you'll have one more customer because your service is far and away better than US airlines.

Agreed. I've got well over 250,000 miles flow with United, but I've had enough of their nickel and dime-ing, and unfriendly ground staff. Time for a move to ANA or JAL, I think.
USNinJapan2 at 08:30 AM JST - 19th November

fds

too bad their "fuel surcharge" has no relation to their fuel cost as its not required by law. otherwise explain how the "fuel surcharge" for australia is less than for hawaii.

Don't you get it? Flying 'down' to Australia from Japan obviously uses less fuel than flying 'sideways' to Hawaii... :)
maninjapan79 at 04:23 PM JST - 19th November

I love how the surcharge tracked up with the price of oil a lot quicker than it tracks down with it....