El Al Israel Airlines Ltd., the country's biggest carrier, said it will cut the fuel surcharge on airline tickets as oil prices fall.
Ticket prices will be cut by $28 on round-trip, long-haul flights from today, the company said in an e-mailed statement.
On European flights, the reduced surcharge will cut the ticket price by $18 and by $12 on regional flights, El Al said.
"El Al adjusts its prices not only when fuel prices rise but also when they go down," Chief Executive Officer Haim Romano said in the statement.
Oil prices fell to $58.68 a barrel Tuesday on London's ICE Futures exchange, their lowest since February 16, and traded at $59.69 Wednesday. Carriers have been offsetting higher fuel bills, which now make up 26 percent of costs compared with 13% five years ago, by adding ticket surcharges and arranging hedging contracts to lock in oil prices.
The lower surcharge won't go into effect on flights taken out of Israel until October 18 because of the Succot holiday, the company said.
The company posted a second-quarter loss August 17, which it attributed to soaring fuel costs.
