Here's why FlySafair flights are about to get more expensive

While we’ll have to wait a few more weeks to discover how much pain there will be at the petrol pumps, flights on South Africa’s largest low-cost carrier are going to get more expensive a whole lot sooner. 

In the same week that fares for international travel spiked, FlySafair has announced that it will introduce a fuel surcharge for all new flight bookings, on service between 12 March and 12 May 2026. Existing bookings won’t be affected, and no surcharge will be added retrospectively.

The airline says it is introducing the fuel surcharge after a sharp spike in jet fuel prices pushed up operating costs across its network. According to the airline, jet fuel prices at South African coastal airports have jumped by around 70 percent in the past week, following the escalation of the Middle East crisis on 28 February. FlySafair doesn’t hedge its fuel costs, meaning it is vulnerable to daily price shifts.

R70 000 in extra costs for Cape Town - Joburg

“Fuel typically makes up 50 – 55 percent of FlySafair’s direct operating costs,” said the airline in a statement. “At current price levels, the airline estimates an additional cost of around R35,000 per flight hour for each Boeing 737-800 aircraft in operation. FlySafair has absorbed these increases since the crisis began, but this is simply not sustainable without threatening the long-term viability of affordable air travel in South Africa.”

FlySafair says it has absorbed those costs up to now, but can no longer do so without putting pressure on its low-fare model. Rather than quietly increasing base fares, the airline says the surcharge will be listed as a separate item on tickets. Charges will vary depending on route length, and FlySafair says the measure is strictly temporary. 

If you’re booking a new flight, the surcharge will appear on fares for departures before 12 May. If you’re changing an existing booking, it will also apply to the new flight if it falls within that window.

Time Out Cape Town trialled a booking on the FlySafair website to see what the impact would be on a typical fare, but as of late-afternoon on 11 March, the fuel surcharge wasn’t itemised in the ticket price. We’ll update this as soon as it shows.

FlySafair isn't alone either: according to News24, Airlink has increased fares twice in the last week to account for the increase in jet fuel price, but this has been bundled into the base fare, rather than listed as a separate fuel surcharge. 

It’s the first time FlySafair has ever introduced a fuel surcharge, but “the persistence and scale of these fuel costs have left us with no reasonable alternative,” says Kirby Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer at FlySafair. “Instead of increasing fares across the board or hiding costs, we have chosen to introduce a clearly labelled, temporary surcharge. This gives customers full visibility into what they are paying for and allows us to remove the surcharge once prices stabilise.”

The airline says the surcharge will be reviewed regularly and removed as soon as market conditions improve. For Cape Town travellers, it’s the clearest sign yet that the global fuel crunch is starting to feed directly into local airfares and international tickets.

FlySafair fuel surcharge: what you need to know

The surcharge:

• Applies only to departures on or before 12 May 2026
• Will be reviewed frequently based on Jet A1 fuel price movements
• Will be reduced or removed once market conditions improve
• Surcharges will vary by route length to reflect the actual fuel consumption required per journey.

If you have already booked:

• Your fare remains unchanged.
• No fuel surcharge will be added retrospectively.

If you book from today:

• Surcharges will be shown as a separate line item on all flights departing on or before 12 May 2026.

If you change an existing booking:

• The surcharge will apply if the new flight departs on or before 12 May 2026.

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