Rising fuel costs drive up airfares

LONDON, May 11 (UPI) -- Soaring jet fuel prices are prompting British and Australian airlines to raise fares, the BBC reported Tuesday.

British Airways was set to raise its fares by $8.80, in the form of a surcharge on round-trip tickets, because fuel prices have climbed so much lately.

Australia's Qantas, which reports a 57 percent increase in the cost of its fuel during the last 12 months, recently said it was also planning on a fuel price hike surcharge on all tickets.

Earlier this month prices for crude oil, the raw material from which jet fuel is refined, hit 13-year highs of more than $40 a barrel.