Hauliers wish for luxury of airline fuel surcharges

ED RICHARDSON BRITISH ROADFREIGHT operators say they would love the luxury of being able to add fuel surcharges such as those imposed by British Airways. SAA is among the other airlines which have announced similar surcharges. The news that British Airways is to slap a £5 surcharge on air fares to help pay for the increased cost of fuel has been greeted with envy by UK road hauliers. “Would that we could just slap a similar price surcharge on our customers,” said RHA chief executive Roger King. “Not only do we struggle to recover these cost increases, we do not get our customers to pay up front before they receive the service as is the case for airline passengers. Furthermore, we are faced with a 2 pence per litre increase in September, something the airlines don’t even have to consider”. The RHA believes that it is high time the airlines shouldered some of the tax burden heaped upon the shoulders of the road haulage fraternity.