Porter Airlines said it is reducing a fuel surcharge on new bookings, noting that the global oil market has started to “normalize” after the war between U.S.-Israel and Iran caused prices to jump earlier this year.
The airline has dropped the charge to $20 from $40 on new reward flight bookings starting Tuesday, it said in an email sent to VIPorter members.
Fuel prices are still about 50 per cent higher than last year, the airline wrote, adding that the company will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as necessary.
“We also said that our goal was to remove this surcharge when the price of fuel reaches levels seen at the beginning of this year,” it said. “Today we are taking a step in this direction.”
Porter, alongside Air Canada Vacations and WestJet, introduced the surcharge around March to offset aviation fuel prices that were much higher than usual. At the time, the airlines said it expected the surcharge to be temporary.
The war in the Middle East caused the oil and gas market to spike after Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, where around 20 per cent of the world’s oil traffic passes, and caused consumers around the world to bear the costs — including at the gas pump.
Those disruptions levelled out after the U.S. and Iran signed a deal earlier in June aimed at ending the war which saw shipping vessels pass through the straight, though at a slower pace than before the war.
Air Canada and WestJet did not respond by publication time to a request from the Star about whether they are also planning to reduce their fuel surcharges.
