British Airways has warned that it will increase the fuel surcharge on longhaul flights by a hefty 50 per cent after a record surge in the oil price to $60 a barrel.

In the airlines' second second set of price increases this year, shorthaul charges will also increase.

British Airways told passengers, and the City, this morning that the fuel surcharge on longhaul flights where tickets are sold and issued in the UK will increase to £24 from £16.

This means a longhaul return trip will cost passengers £48 in fuel surcharges, where previously it was £32.

The shorthaul fuel surcharge will increase to £8 from £6, taking the added cost of a short return trip to £16. Previously, it was £12. The additional charges will apply to tickets issued from next Monday.

Oil prices hit a record $60 a barrel in heavy trading on the American markets yesterday, amid continuing concerns about pressures on supply. The markets had been threatening for the week to push the oil price to new highs.

British Airways - which in March posted an 80 per cent increase in profits to £415 million - warned that its fuel bill will now be more than £450 million higher than last year, thanks to high prices on the world's oil markets. It said it hoped its new surcharges would help offset its "sharp increases" in fuel costs.

Martin George, British Airways' commercial director, said: "The continuing rise in global oil prices to almost $60 a barrel means a further surcharge increase is regrettably unavoidable. We now expect our fuel bill for this financial year to be around £1.6 billion."

British Airways said the new fuel surcharges would mean that its total revenue for the year to next March should now grow by between 4.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent, up by 0.5 per cent on its previous estimate delivered in May.

The City responded by marking British Airways' shares down 5.5p to 273.5p - a fall of nearly 2 per cent - in early morning trade.

The last time BA pushed up fares was in March, when longhaul surcharges increased to £16 from £10 and shorthaul charge rose to £6 from £4.

BA has been battling to reduce its costs, cutting staff numbers by 13,000. The airline is also grappling with deficit in its pension fund of more than £1 billion.

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