Foreign summer holidays are about to get much more expensive after British Airways raised its fuel surcharge for the second time in six weeks despite opposition from passenger groups.

Other airlines are expected to follow with their own price rises, even though the price of oil fell more than 3 per cent yesterday.

BA’s surcharge is increasing to £43 one way for flights over nine hours, up from £38. The surcharge for long-haul flights under nine hours rises from £33 to £38 while short-haul flights remain at £8.

The increases mean that a BA flight to New York next month, for example, will typically cost £276 return but taxes, booking charges and fuel surcharges take the total to £428. The extras are equivalent to 55 per cent of the cost of some flights.

BA, which made a profit of £602 million last year, said that the surcharge is necessary as oil prices have risen recently and this has to be passed on to consumers.

However, the oil price per barrel dropped $2 to $69.22 yesterday and is $10 lower than its peak last year when BA’s fuel surcharge was £35.

The BA move to increase the surcharge was attacked by its rival Ryanair, which called it a “rip-off” and “profiteering”.

The Air Transport Users Council, a consumer body, believes that surcharges are bad for passengers and wants them dropped. James Freemantle, industry affairs adviser at the ATUC, said: “These surcharges don’t bear any relationship to the real costs of fuel. It’s just an arbitary amount they add occasionally when they feel like it.”

Virgin Atlantic has a surcharge of £34 for flights under nine hours and £38 for longer flights. Bmi, the former British Midland, charges £8 for short-haul flights and £30 for long-haul. International airlines operating from the UK, such as American and United, also use surcharges and are expected to increase them. Ryanair and easyJet, the no-frills airlines, do not have surcharges and are critical of their use. Peter Sherrard, a spokesman for Ryanair, said: “This is British Airways’ ninth rip-off fuel surcharge since May 2004.

In that time the price of oil has doubled but British Airways’ fuel surcharge has increased 17-fold. British Airways is profiteering yet again.” EasyJet said it did not believe in surcharges.

Robert Boyle, BA’s commercial director, said: “The cost of fuel has again risen significantly in recent weeks. Unfortunately, we have little choice but to pass on some of this extra cost to our customers.”

The use of surcharges has been criticised by the Office of Fair Trading, which accuses airlines of confusing passengers by advertising low fares and then adding supplements such as taxes and fuel surcharges.

This practice is to be banned but BA and Virgin still break out the extra charges before payment because they believe that it is more transparent.