{"id":853620,"date":"2026-03-11T13:26:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=853620"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:30:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:30:41","slug":"south-africas-biggest-airline-adding-surcharge-to-tickets-as-fuel-prices-skyrocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/853620\/south-africas-biggest-airline-adding-surcharge-to-tickets-as-fuel-prices-skyrocket\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa&#8217;s biggest airline adding surcharge to tickets as fuel prices skyrocket"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s biggest domestic airline, FlySafair, has announced that it will introduce a temporary fuel surcharge to ticket prices as the cost of fuel skyrockets amid the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group noted that since the Middle East crisis erupted on 28 February, it had been absorbing the steep fuel cost increases to shield passengers from immediate airfare increases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, with Jet A1 Fuel prices at South African coastal airports now up approximately 70% in just one week and no clear end in sight, the airline has reached the point where it must pass on a portion of these costs to ensure its long-term sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The airline is now moving to introduce a temporary fuel surcharge. The surcharge takes effect from 12 March 2026 and will apply only to flights departing on or before 12 May 2026,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This reflects the airline&#8217;s hope that the crisis is short-term and requires a short-term response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe will be specifically itemising this temporary dynamic fuel surcharge on all tickets to ensure fairness and transparency to our customers,\u201d said FlySafair Chief Marketing Officer, Kirby Gordon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The surcharge:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Applies only to departures on or before 12 May 2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Will be reviewed frequently based on Jet A1 fuel price movements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Will be reduced or removed once market conditions improve<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Surcharges will vary by route length to reflect the actual fuel consumption required per journey<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The airline said the surcharge is necessary because the conflict in the Middle East has resulted in an effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the narrow waterway through which roughly 20% of the world&#8217;s oil supply flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tanker traffic has collapsed, with estimates suggesting a 70\u201380% drop in shipping through this critical route. The impact on fuel prices has been immediate and severe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Global oil prices have swung wildly, with Brent crude surging past US$100 per barrel before settling around US$87\u201391 amid extreme volatility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More critically for aviation, Jet A1 fuel prices at South African coastal airports have spiked by approximately 70% in just one week, FlySafair said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For context, the group noted that fuel typically accounts for 50\u201355% of its direct operating costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At current price levels, the airline estimates an additional cost of around R35,000 per flight hour for each Boeing 737-800 aircraft in operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;FlySafair has absorbed these increases since the crisis began, but this is simply not sustainable without threatening the long-term viability of affordable air travel in South Africa,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Competing airline, national carrier South African Airways, noted that, at this stage, it does not anticipate any immediate disruption to its fuel supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Based on current planning and supplier assurances, SAA has sufficient fuel arrangements in place to support its flight schedule,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What passengers need to know<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FlySafairs-Chief-Marketing-Officer-Kirby-Gordon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FlySafairs-Chief-Marketing-Officer-Kirby-Gordon-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-844665\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FlySafairs-Chief-Marketing-Officer-Kirby-Gordon-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FlySafairs-Chief-Marketing-Officer-Kirby-Gordon-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FlySafairs-Chief-Marketing-Officer-Kirby-Gordon-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FlySafairs-Chief-Marketing-Officer-Kirby-Gordon.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FlySafair\u2019s Chief Marketing Officer, Kirby Gordon<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>If you booked with FlySafair before 11 March 2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Your fare remains unchanged.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No fuel surcharge will be added retrospectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you book with FlySafair from 11 March 2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Surcharges will be shown as a separate line item on all flights departing on or before 12 May 2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you change an existing booking:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The surcharge will apply if the new flight departs on or before 12 May 2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>FlySafair assured that there would be no retrospective charges and that all pricing would be transparent, with the surcharge displayed separately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FlySafair has announced that it will introduce a temporary fuel surcharge to ticket prices as the cost of fuel skyrockets amid the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":798381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[10020,2241,24981,1675],"class_list":["post-853620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-flysafair","tag-fuel-price","tag-iran-war","tag-saa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853620"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853623,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853620\/revisions\/853623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}