The management of regional carrier Winair is set to meet today to discuss the possible introduction of a minimal fuel surcharge on ticket prices, as rising fuel costs continue to weigh heavily on the airline.

In an interview with Caribbean Pulse, Chief Executive Officer Hans van der Velde said the matter is now on the table after the St Maarten government-owned airline spent the past few weeks absorbing steep increases in fuel prices.

He said the airline had initially resisted adding a surcharge, even as its competitors Caribbean Airlines (CAL) and interCaribbean moved in that direction, choosing instead to monitor the market and manage the impact internally.

Van der Velde highlighted to the scale of the increase, noting that fuel costs jumped from US$550,000 in February to nearly US$900,000 in March.

“That is the cost that we took,” he said.

Instead, Winair has been trying to offset the impact in other ways, including improving how full its aircraft are on each flight.

But with fuel prices staying high for weeks, van der Velde suggested the airline may be running out of time to hold off.

Any surcharge, he added, would likely be limited.

“I think most airlines, and so will be the same for us, will not pass on everything because then flying gets very expensive. So partly we will have to absorb it anyway ourselves.”

He made it clear the airline has been cautious about shifting that burden onto passengers too quickly.

“For a client, he just looks at the total price of a ticket. So if a ticket price is partly taxes, partly fuel surcharges, for a client, it’s all the same. He’s just looking at the end price,” he said.

He warned that raising fares without care could backfire.

“If you raise your price, but the consequence is you have less passengers, then you still have your extra costs of the fuel, but you don’t have extra income.”

Asked whether Winair was considering cutting routes or grounding some of its planes in favour of more fuel-efficient aircraft in the fleet, van der Velde said those options are not realistic for a carrier of its size.

Winair operates a fleet of four 48-seat ATR 42-500 aircraft and five de Havilland Twin Otters, which have a capacity of 19 passengers. Its route network includes 17 destinations, including Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Montserrat, Saba, St Barth, St Eustatius, St Maarten and Trinidad.

His comments come as airlines globally begin to take tougher decisions in response to soaring fuel costs.

According to a recent CTV News report, Air Canada is suspending six routes after jet fuel prices nearly doubled. The cuts include flights from Toronto and Montreal to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport from June 1, as well as a service between Salt Lake City and Toronto from June 30. Other affected routes are within Canada.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa Group said in an April 21 press release that it will cut about 20,000 short-haul flights through October as it trims unprofitable routes amid rising fuel costs. The airline said the move is expected to save more than 40,000 metric tonnes of jet fuel.

On the possibility of suspending routes, he said that would only be considered if a route was already struggling.

Despite those developments, van der Velde said Winair’s current network remains stable.

“All the routes we do are successful or very successful. So there’s no route that becomes, at this moment, such that we don’t operate anymore. We continue the programme as planned,” he said.