British Airways today hiked its fuel surcharge for passengers on long-haul flights for the fifth time in little more than a year.

The charge on longer journeys will increase from £24 per trip to £30, although BA left the short-haul surcharge of £8 unchanged.

The airline described the rise as "very regrettable" but pointed out its annual fuel bill of £1.6bn was now its largest cost after staff overheads.

The increase, which will result in a £60 charge for a round-trip, is the same as the rise announced by rival Virgin Atlantic two days ago.

BA first introduced a £2.50 a flight surcharge in May 2004, increasing it three months later and then again in October, March and June.

The airline's commercial director, Martin George, said: "Our fuel costs remain a real burden. The price of oil hit a record high of just over US$70 a barrel in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"We believe that it is better to be transparent with our customers about the price of fuel by showing the level of fuel surcharge they are paying rather than hide the costs by raising fares behind the scenes like some other airlines choose to."

BA said it now costs almost 400% more than it did in December 2001 to fill up a plane with fuel.

Mr George added: "The latest fuel surcharge rise is very regrettable but we have little choice to pass some of our extra costs on to our customers."

BA, which expects revenues to grow by between 5.5% and 6.5% in the year to March, posted its highest annual profits figure since 1998 in May, when it announced it had made £415m. This was up from £23m last year.

The additional surcharge applies to tickets issued from Monday and does not apply to fares already paid for and issued.