It will indeed be a happy new year for airline travellers as prices of airfares are expected to go down in January 2023.

In a “Laging Handa” briefing on Tuesday, Dec. 20, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said prices of tickets are expected to decrease come 2023 due to the drop of fuel surcharge.

“Iyan po ay tungkol sa surcharge kasi nitong Disyembre ang surcharge natin ay nasa level 8, baba pa tayo ng level 7 sa Jan. 1. Malaking bagay din ‘yan sa ating riding public. Sana magpatuloy although volatile ang presyo sa pandaigdigang merkado (That is about the surcharge in December which was at level 8, and would go down to level 7 come Jan. 1. This a great news to the riding public. I hope this continues although the price of fuel in the world market is volatile),” he said when asked about the expected drop in prices of airfares.

He explained that due to the unstable price of fuel, fuel surcharge has been imposed before by most airlines around the world.

According to Arcilla, at least 30 to 40 percent of the price of airline tickets goes to the fuel expense.

“Noong mga normal ang mga sitwasyon at hindi pa masyadong malikot ang presyo ng fuel, ‘yung kaunting mga pagbabago ina-absorb na iyan, factored in ‘yan sa fare kaya hindi basta-basta nagbabago. So ngayon, para maiwasan ang babaguhin nang babaguhin ang fares, ang ginagawa ng mga airelines sa buong mundo, nag-iimpose sila ng tinatawag na fuel surcharge doon sa fare (When the situation was normal and the price of fuel was not too erratic, those small changes were already absorbed and factored into the fare so it did not suddenly change. Now, to avoid changing the fares, what the airlines around the world are doing, they impose a so-called fuel surcharge on the fare),” he added.

The CAB official said they have a matrix to determine whether to increase, decrease, or remove the fuel surcharge to the airfare of travellers.

“Mayroong mga taon na kapag bumaba ang fuel, kapag bumaba ng 60 dollars per barrel, nawawala ‘yung fuel surcharge (There are years when fuel goes down, when it goes down by 60 dollars per barrel, the fuel surcharge disappears),” Arcilla further explained.