Since September 11 2001, the costs incurred by airlines have risen considerably. easyJet has seen an increase in both the cost of aircraft insurance and airport security charges throughout Europe. For four months, we have not added a single penny to passengers` tickets, in the hope that many of the charges being applied to us would be temporary. We have lobbied hard for their removal.

Unfortunately these higher costs are still with us. As a result, we have no option but to add £1.62 (CHF 3.81, EUR 2.62) to each sector. This represents the additional charges being levied on us by the insurance syndicates and airports.We will not be making any additional profit from this charge.

We are pleased that the UK Government has continued to underwrite some insurance costs while the Swiss Government withdrew its cover on Christmas Eve! We have demanded a European Union investigation into the manner in which the insurance companies acted as a cartel by simultaneously increasing premiums by the same amount on the same day on all airlines across the world. But the bottom line is that we have no choice but to pay the higher fees - otherwise our aircraft would be grounded!

You can be assured that if we succeed in reducing the charges that others force us to pay, we will reduce the amount payable by our customers.

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