For long-haul routes to the United States and beyond, passengers now face up to 600,000 won ($398) in additional round-trip costs from fuel surcharges alone. With oil prices still climbing, further increases are expected as early as next month.
Industry data released Wednesday showed April surcharges are based on the average MOPS benchmark for jet fuel in the Asia-Pacific region between Feb. 16 and March 15. Airlines price fuel into 33 tiers and reset surcharges monthly on the 16th.
The average price during the period hit 326.71 cents per gallon, placing it at level 18 — a sharp jump from level 6 the previous month and the steepest monthly increase since the current system was introduced in 2016.
Fuel surcharges are additional fees applied to airfares to offset rising fuel costs. Under South Korea’s distance-based system, airlines determine surcharges monthly, based on ticket issuance date rather than travel date.
For the longest routes — including flights from Incheon to New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington and Toronto — the surcharge rose to 303,000 won per one-way ticket, a 3.1-fold increase from last month. For round-trip tickets departing from South Korea, passengers could face up to 606,000 won in fuel surcharges, about 408,000 won higher than in March.
Other carriers followed suit. Asiana Airlines raised its surcharge range from 14,600–78,600 won in March to 43,900–251,900 won this month.
Cargo surcharges also rose sharply. Korean Air, which sets separate fuel surcharges for cargo, announced it would impose surcharges of 2,190 won per kilogram for long-haul routes, 2,060 won for mid-haul routes and 1,960 won for short-haul routes — more than four times higher than last month’s 450 to 510 won.
Long-haul routes refer to International Air Transport Association Traffic Conference (TC) area 1 – the Americas, Caribbean, and Greenland – and area 2 (Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia. Mid-haul routes cover TC3 destinations such as Southeast Asia, while short-haul routes refer to cities within an average flight time of two hours from Korea, including Japan and parts of China.
Further increases are expected as jet fuel prices continue to climb. Fuel surcharges for May will be determined based on the average Singapore jet fuel price between March 16 and April 15.
As of March 31, the Asian jet fuel benchmark reached 522.08 cents per gallon — already exceeding the highest surcharge threshold of 470 cents, which corresponds to level 33. If the trend continues, May surcharges could reach the maximum level for the first time.
In such a scenario, fuel surcharges on U.S. routes could rise from the current 300,000 won range to more than 500,000 won per one-way ticket, while short-haul routes could approach 100,000 won.
After airlines suffered significant losses during past oil price downturns due to hedging contracts, many global carriers have reduced or discontinued long-term hedging. As a result, airlines are more directly exposed to fuel price volatility, leading to rapid adjustments in fuel surcharges.
“It’s not as short-term as gas contracts, but we don’t hold as much fuel reserves as people might assume,” a Korean Air official said. “We do maintain some stock, but not enough to cover operations for months. While airlines try to hedge fuel costs and apply surcharges, they typically rely on shorter-term procurement rather than long-term reserves.”
Airlines also face limits on how much of the rising fuel costs can be passed on to passengers. As fuel prices rise further, carriers may instead reduce flight operations to manage costs, industry sources said.
A weaker Korean won is also contributing to rising surcharges. Fuel surcharges are calculated in U.S. dollars and converted to Korean won using the average exchange rate. The won-dollar exchange rate surpassed 1,501 won during intraday trading on Wednesday, approaching levels seen during the 2009 global financial crisis.
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