International Airline Ticket Fuel Surcharge Report

September 13, 2008 | Posted in: Airfares, Airline Fees, Fuel Surcharges, Geek Data

CNBC noted on Friday that at least one trade in the NYMEX oil trading pits dropped below $100 per barrel – oddly enough this noteworthy occasion occurred at the same time Ike was steam rolling into the Texas Gulf Coast. As I continue to get the “When are airline ticket fuel surcharges going to start rolling back?” question — I thought it was time to do a comprehensive analysis of the current international fuel surcharges – as a few airlines have announced some small cutbacks this past week (not the U.S. airlines however). Luckily at FareCompare.com we have one of the worlds largest databases of current and historical airfares and some clever programmers (along with my co-founder/CTO) who have created for me a one of a kind tool to analyze fuel surcharges (in this case International) on over 500 airlines who publish airfares. I used this handy internal tool to peruse over 620,000 publicly filed international airfares (as of midnight last night) for travel originating in 22 top hub airports in the U.S. to the top 41 trans-oceanic (Atlantic and Pacific) destinations by non-stop available seats. The findings are as follows:

International Fuel Surcharges by Ocean

The average fuel surcharge for travel originating from the U.S. (top 22 hubs noted later) to the top 41 transoceanic (Atlantic, Pacific) non-stop destinations by daily available seats:

• Trans-Atlantic average Fuel Surcharge: $342 (average of 452,000 airfares)
• Trans-Pacific average Fuel Surcharge: $391 (average of 168,000 airfares)
• Transoceanic average Fuel Surcharge: $349 (closer to trans-Atlantic because of number of airfares sample higher for Atlantic)

International Fuel Surcharges by Airline

Airline	Average Fuel Surcharge
Aer Lingus	$ 344
Aeroflot	$ 317
Aerosvit	$ 680
Air Berlin	$ 200
Air Canada	$ 314
Air China	$ 417
Air Europa	$ 328
Air France	$ 328
Air India	$ 391
Air New Zealand	$ 299
Air Pacific	$ 216
Air Tahiti Nui	$ 266
Alitalia	$ 335
American	$ 330
ANA	$ 511
Asiana	$ 276
Austrian	$ 562
BMI	$ 346
British Airways	$ 523
Brussels	$ 327
Cathay	$ 425
China Airlines	$ 491
China Eastern	$ 388
China Southern	$ 365
Continental	$ 335
Czech	$ 363
Delta	$ 320
El Al	$ 581
Emirates	$ 430
Etihad	$ 410
EVA	$ 240
Finnair	$ 308
Hainan	$ 349
Hawaiian	$ 400
Iberia	$ 330
Icelandair	$ 310
JAL	$ 647
Jet Airways	$ 503
KLM	$ 319
Korean	$ 280
Kuwait	$ 239
LOT	$ 386
LTU	$ 296
Lufthansa	$ 317
Malaysia	$1,162
Malev	$ 266
Martinair	$ 294
Northwest	$ 314
Olympic	$ 367
Pakistan	$ 430
Philippine	$ 353
Qantas	$ 403
Qatar	$ 343
Royal Air Maroc	$ 576
Royal Jordanian	$ 279
SAS	$ 399
SATA	$ 216
Saudi	$ 230
Shanghai Airlines	$ 371
Singapore	$ 474
South African	$ 310
Swiss	$ 337
TAP	$ 372
Thai	$ 995
Thai Jet	$ 400
Turkish	$ 356
United	$ 328
US Airways	$ 311
Uzbekistan	$ 513
Virgin Atlantic	$ 616

International Fuel Surcharges by U.S. Origin and Ocean

Origin U.S. City	Trans-Atlantic Average Fuel Surcharge	Trans-Pacific Average Fuel Surcharge
Atlanta	$333	$416
Boston	$337	$381
Chicago	$335	$388
Cleveland	$342	$382
Charlotte	$338	$372
Cincinnati	$348	$375
Denver	$349	$385
Dallas	$345	$396
Detroit	$331	$376
Newark	$319	$353
Houston	$351	$381
Los Angeles	$352	$440
Miami	$340	$420
Minneapolis	$348	$373
New York	$340	$503
Orlando	$347	$379
Philadelphia	$335	$365
Phoenix	$351	$335
Seattle	$348	$358
San Francisco	$356	$386
Salt Lake	$342	$349
Washington D.C.	$338	$384

International Fuel Surcharges by Destination

International Destination	Average Fuel Surcharge
Amsterdam	$334
Athens	$338
Auckland	$291
Barcelona	$333
Beijing	$409
Brisbane	$458
Brussels	$335
Copenhagen	$339
Dakar	$362
Delhi	$455
Dubai	$440
Dublin	$319
Dsseldorf	$267
Frankfurt	$258
Geneva	$322
Guam	$308
Hong Kong	$465
Lisbon	$305
London	$357
Madrid	$331
Manchester	$364
Melbourne	$375
Milan	$341
Moscow	$334
Munich	$263
Nadi	$298
Nagoya	$459
Osaka	$449
Paris	$330
Rome	$338
Seoul	$304
Shanghai	$409
Shannon	$299
Stockholm	$339
Sydney	$448
Taipei	$363
Tel Aviv	$500
Tokyo	$474
Venice	$340
Vienna	$337
Zurich	$317

International Fuel Surcharges by Destination Country

Destination Country	Average Fuel Surcharge
Arab Emirates	$440
Australia	$427
Austria	$337
Belgium	$335
China	$409
Denmark	$339
Fiji	$298
France	$330
Germany	$262
Greece	$338
Hong Kong	$465
India	$455
Ireland	$312
Israel	$500
Italy	$339
Japan	$461
Korea	$304
Mariana Islands	$308
Netherlands	$334
New Zealand	$291
Portugal	$305
Russia	$334
Senegal	$362
Spain	$332
Sweden	$339
Switzerland	$319
Taiwan	$363
United Kingdom	$360

7 Responses to “International Airline Ticket Fuel Surcharge Report”

1. Shan says:

   September 15, 2008 at 11:59 am

   Great Information! I recently purchased a ticket for a Nov travel from JFK to Chennai,India(MAA) on Emirates & it cost me $1186 for round trip. Fare break down shows Airfare @ 1125 + Taxes & fees @ 61 = 1186. Your chart shows the surcharge for Emirates @ 430. Does this mean the actual price for the seat for a 17000 mile round trip is 1125 – 430(surcharge) = $695 which is like ~4cents/mile or am I doing this wrong? Then what is the fuel surcharge for travel within US?
2. Rick Seaney says:

   September 15, 2008 at 12:24 pm

   Yes, the fuel surcharge is combined with the base airfare before taxes and fees applied so your base airfare was in that $700 range
3. Kahty Brezin says:

   September 18, 2008 at 9:44 am

   Do you have any chart or online listing of what the airlines charge domestically for an unaccompanied minor?
   Thanks in advance.
4. bryan SFO says:

   September 18, 2008 at 2:48 pm

   This is very helpful, thank you! Surcharges are bad business practice; the cost of the tix should include the cost of doing business.
5. BOB D says:

   September 19, 2008 at 8:18 am

   LAST WEEK PURCHASED AWARD TKT FROM AEROMEXICO FOR TRAVEL ON CONTINENTAL TO INDIA – THIS AGENT CHARGED ME $440 FOR TAXES. WHEN I ASKED HOW COME SHE CAME UP WITH SUCH HUGE AMOUNT OF TAXES, SHE HAD NO ANSWER. I TOLD HER I CAN BUY TICKET TO INDIA IN JAN FOR $1000 INCL TAXES AND YOU ARE CHARGING ME $400 FOR TAXES THIS MAKES NO SENSE. WELL MY ARGUING WITH HER WAS A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. SHE DID NOT HAVE ANY ANSWER. PL LET ME KNOW WHAT WAS THIS MESS ALL ABOUT IF YOU HAVE SOME KNOWLEDGE

   THANK YOU
   BOB
6. BOB D says:

   September 19, 2008 at 8:22 am

   FURTHER TO MY COMMENT- FOR READERS WHO USE MILES TO BUY TICKET. I LOOK AT MY AERO MEXICO PURCHASE THIS WAY. 80000 MILES TO INDIA IN ECONOMY CLASS. IF ONE BUYS MILES ALSO MINIMUM COST IS $2400 PLUS I PAID $440 TO AERO MEX FOR TAXES – THUS I PAID $2440. I COULD HAVE BOUGHT 2 TKTS FOR THE SAME PRICE AND EARN MILES. THESE AIRLINES ARE REALLY SCREWING PEOPLE.
7. Rainy says:

   October 5, 2008 at 8:26 pm

   Can you explain the extremely high fuel surcharge for Malaysia Airlines? Maybe the Ringgit value in US dollars wasn’t converted properly??