Citing war and fuel prices, Alaska Seaplanes announces a fuel surcharge

An Alaska Seaplanes pilot prepares to land on Oct. 21, 2024, in Haines. (Rashah McChesney / Chilkat Valley News)

By Rashah McChesney

Chilkat Valley News

A regional airline is adding a temporary fuel surcharge to the cost of tickets in response to the war in the Middle East impacting jet fuel prices. 

Beginning Friday, Alaska Seaplanes and Island Air Express will add  a 6% surcharge added to customer fares, the company announced Monday in a media release. That surcharge will not apply to freight customers. 

Company spokesperson Andy Kline said that, to his knowledge, the company hasn’t put this type of surcharge in place before. 

“The word ‘unprecedented’ keeps coming up,” he said. 

He said the company gets its jet fuel rates weekly, on Mondays, and during the first two weeks in March, those rates jumped 38%. 

“Just today it went up an additional 4 percent,” he said. “That’s over 40% for the first two weeks of March.” 

Currently, a one-way flight from Haines can be purchased online for $179, meaning the surcharge will add nearly $10.80 to the overall cost of the flight. 

Kline said the company is not trying to make a profit off higher fuel prices, but wants to avoid taking a loss. 

Airlines outside of the U.S. have been raising prices for several days. 

Air New Zealand was among the first, announcing March 10 that its ticket prices would go up. Cathay Pacific Airways in Hong Kong announced an increase in fuel surcharges to go into place March 18. That airline cited a doubling of jet fuel prices since the beginning of the month. Scandinavian Airlines also put a temporary price increase into place March 10.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with Andy Kline’s correct last name.

• This story was originally published by the Chilkat Valley News.