Domestic Routes Add Surcharges From July In China

A notice issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Civil Aviation Administration of China said that surcharges for domestic routes were allowed to be increased from July 1, 2008.

According to the NDRC and CAAC's notice, Hainan Airlines has announced that due to recently fluctuant prices of coal oil used for domestic civil aviation transportation, from July 1, the surcharges went up from original CNY60 to CNY80 for shorter domestic routes of less than 800 kilometers; that for long domestic routes of over 800 kilometers were increased from original CNY100 to CNY150.

It is reported that China United Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Juneyao Airlines also published the increase rate of the surcharges for their domestic flights same with Hainan Airlines.

Zhang Wei from Ctrip.com told local media that this time the growth rates of surcharges were higher than that on November 5, 2007. Last year, the growth rate of surcharges was 20% for short routes, while that for long routes of over 800 kilometers was 25%. In the adjustment from this July, the surcharges for short routes increased by 33%, and that for long routes was 50% at most.