Northwest Airlines adding 80USD domestic fuel surcharge

Northwest Airlines will be adding fuel surcharges on many of its roundtrip domestic fares, amounting to as much as $80.

The surcharges will apply to around 7,000 different routes and will begin on January 10, 2009, according to Northwest spokesperson Michelle Aguayo-Shannon. She explained that the carrier is matching the surcharges applied by Northwest’s competitors.

A recent farecompare.com newsletter reported that there have been a total of 21 fare increases industry-wide in the U.S. this. The newly-announced Northwest surcharge was not included in the count, as it will cover only around two-thirds of the airline’s city pairs. The report did state that Northwest’s surcharge was worthy of note as the carrier doesn’t typically initiate fare increases.

Airlines that introduced some of the earlier fare increases ended up rescinding them when their competitors did not follow suit. If the new Northwest surcharge sticks, it will be larger than any other on the farecompare.com report. Previously, the largest increase was the $70 base fare hike instituted by United Airlines in April of this year.

The study relates that the introduction of fare hikes has slowed after what was described as a “torrid pace” of initiating increases in the first half of 2008.

www.nwa.com