FuelClub Discount

Air New Zealand is looking to save more than $100 million in fuel costs a year as it puts smaller planes on services to London.

Surging oil prices are causing airlines around the world to brace for slower growth, tighter earnings and deeper cost cutting.

Last week Air France KLM warned it would have to expect a 1.1 billion euro ($NZ2.25 billion) rise in fuel costs, squeezing profits this year and forcing it to find 150 million euros in savings.
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Airline executives forecast bankruptcies, job cuts and increased ticket prices yesterday as Air France-KLM plunged the industry into further gloom with a warning that its profits would fall by a third under the weight of rising fuel costs.

Shares in the Franco-Dutch carrier were marked down 10 per cent to ?16.74 amid fears that its fuel bill would be ?5.7 billion (?4.5 billion) this year, up from ?4.6 billion in 2007.

The warning from the world’s biggest airline by revenue provoked fresh turbulence in a sector already unsettled by Wednesday’s announcement from American Airlines that it would charge passengers to check in luggage in an effort to generate additional revenue. With Qantas, the Australian flag carrier, putting up the cost of international flights by 4 per cent and Japan Airlines also set to raise its fuel surcharge, executives predicted fewer passengers and a bleak outlook for the industry.

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