Business and leisure travellers may have to pay more to fly with Hong Kong's top two airlines, as soaring jet fuel costs prompt them to seek relief through special surcharges.
Hong Kong Dragon Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways have asked the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) for permission to extend for three more months the existing fuel surcharge. Both airlines are also thought to have asked for the levy to be raised.
'Like all airlines, Dragonair is facing heavy cost pressures from the persistently high price of oil,' a Dragonair spokeswoman said.
'To help mitigate the impact, we have submitted a request to the CAD to extend and adjust a temporary fuel surcharge on our passenger routes.'
A Cathay spokeswoman said the airline had applied for an extension past November 1.
A Cathay executive later confirmed it had also asked the department for a surcharge rise.