German airline Lufthansa, under pressure from competitors to impose ticket surcharges due to soaring oil prices, said on Saturday it would hike long-haul flight prices by three percent from July 1.
A Lufthansa spokesman said the airline was following the latest advice of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is meeting this weekend in Singapore.
"We won't bring in further price increases," the spokesman said, after the unexpected hike due to record high oil prices. He added that fares for German and European flights as well as special offers for long-haul flights would remain unchanged.
The Geneva-based IATA, which begins its annual meeting on Sunday, had told airline chiefs it would recommend a three-percent price increase for intercontinental flights from Europe and five percent for those from other regions, he said.
IATA Director-General Giovanni Bisignani warned on Thursday that the rise in fuel prices threatened the industry's expected $3 billion profit this year after it racked up $30 billion in losses over the last three years.
World oil prices rose to record highs this week but slid on Friday after the Organisation of Oil Producing Countries (OPEC) agreed to raise its crude output to slake voracious global demand, soothing fears of a fuel supply crunch this summer.
Jet fuel is the airline industry's second-biggest operating expense after labour, making up 12 to 20 percent of operating costs.
Many airlines, including British Airways and Singapore Airlines Ltd have either tacked on fuel surcharges to ticket prices or raised fares to offset the rise in fuel costs.