Freight forwarders have urged airlines to simplify their surcharge schemes and move to inclusive pricing.
Speaking at an air freight seminar at Multimodal in Birmingham last week, Doug Overett, UK business development director for CEVA, said: “I just want to see consistency. Some airlines have moved to all-inclusive rates, and others haven’t.”
Nigel Wilkins, head of UK air freight operations for DB Schenker, agreed. “With lots of different mechanisms, it’s very hard to organise pricing.”
Mr Overett added: “Our customers want to see a reduction in the fuel surcharge since prices went down. I understand that the price of jet fuel is not exactly the same as the oil price, but there is definitely a relationship. But when we ask airlines, we get a fairly waffled response. We want to clear up the nonsense of surcharges.
“All-in prices at least will reset the fuel surcharges to represent prices better.”