Emirates is currently contemplating an increase in the fuel surcharge due to rising oil prices.
"We will have to introduce a fuel surcharge. We have got to stay in business. We are currently reviewing our options for the fuel surcharge increase. We are looking at the market. You just can't increase the surcharge by 10 or 15 per cent as in some markets governments don't let you do that," said President Tim Clark.
"However, if the fuel price stays where it is, we have to put the fuel surcharges as soon as we can. Otherwise we better face issues.
"The trick now is to get the seat factor up from a planned 80 percentage points up five percentage points. If we can get that, then we are fine," he added.
On passing on high fuel costs to customers, Clark said: "We never passed it on to passengers. For instance, Emirates paid an extra $500m for fuel than originally budgeted. We recovered some of that but not nearly all." (Shweta Jain)
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