British Airways finally fell in line with rival airlines following a steep fall in fuel prices BA announced levy cuts for economy class passengers on long-haul flights, leaving business class charges unchanged.

The surcharge on return flights with a travel duration of more than 9 hours- say to New Delhi and Cape Town - will drop from £218 to £192 per ticket for those travelling in the airplane’s back coach. It would reduce from £156 per return flight to £136 for less than 9 hours long journeys in case of long-haul economy class, for example Heathrow to Montreal or New York.

The premium economy passengers would pay £166, down from £176 for long haul return flights under 9 hours. The surcharge is reduced to £222 from £229 for more than 9 hours long return flights.

There is no change in surcharge for business class passengers and short-haul flights.

BA was criticised by Ryanair for keeping fuel surcharges unchanged in spite of drop in oil costs from $147 a barrel to $80 a barrel now. It accused BA of disproportionate charging for safeguarding profits during slowdown. BA had defended saying that gains of lower oil price were wiped out by the strong dollar value.

According to Douglas McNeill, BlueOar Securities’s analyst, when rival airlines announced cut in surcharges there was no option left for BA than to respond positively to keep fares competitive.