Filipino travelers booking flights in the closing weeks of September will likely pay more, after aviation regulators cleared airlines to collect steeper fuel surcharges tied to elevated jet fuel costs.
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) has authorized carriers to charge under Level 14 of its surcharge matrix for the September 16 to 30 period, an increase from the Level 13 rate that applied during the first half of the month. The adjustment appeared in an advisory the board issued Friday and, as the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported, keeps the regulator’s compressed 15-day review schedule in place—a cycle CAB adopted in March to shrink the gap between real fuel costs and the surcharges passengers actually shoulder.
Under the new ceiling, domestic passengers face an added fee ranging from P457 to P1,336, calculated according to how far they fly. Those figures sit above the P423 to P1,237 band that governed the earlier half of September.
The surcharge climbs considerably higher for flights leaving the country. International passengers may be billed anywhere from P1,509.08 to P11,220.71, up from the previous window’s P1,396.74 to P10,385.42 range. According to the Inquirer, CAB pegged its currency conversion for the period at P62.25 per US dollar.
Carriers intending to collect the higher amounts are required to lodge their applications with the board before the September 16 effectivity date. The fee itself functions as a mechanism for airlines to offset the operating costs they absorb when fuel prices swing upward.
The surcharge is optional and sits apart from an airline’s base fare, meaning not every carrier necessarily applies the maximum allowable rate.
Driving the latest increase is the persistent turmoil across the Middle East, where hostilities around the Strait of Hormuz have unsettled the movement and supply of fuel. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes through that narrow waterway, and traders have repeatedly built a risk premium into crude prices whenever the threat of disruption resurfaces—pressure that eventually reaches jet fuel and, in turn, the price of a plane ticket.
