While the direct impact of the political upheavals that have swept across the Arab world seems to be fading - traffic is gradually returning to normal - a predictable secondary effect is now being felt: the soaring price of oil. In an interview published by Reuters, Giovanni Bisignani estimates that "tensions linked to events in Arab countries have increased the global fuel bill for airlines by 30 billion dollars". As a result, a cascade of new fuel surcharges has just been announced. While the price of fuel has risen by 30 % since the beginning of the year, Singapore Airlines is applying an increase of between 4 and 32 dollars per sector, depending on the distance and class of travel. For a flight between Singapore and Europe, the fuel surcharge reaches 110 euros in economy class and 130 euros in first class. Most American airlines have adopted the same strategy. United Airlines - Continental has revised its plans to cope with a fuel bill up by 725 million dollars in the first quarter (+34.5 %). The group has announced a reduction in capacity of 1 point from May 2011 and 4 points from next September compared with what was initially planned. Over 2011 as a whole, the carrier's capacity should therefore remain stable compared with last year.
