China airlines seek fuel charge rise -Shanghai Air

SHANGHAI, June 27 (Reuters) - Chinese airlines have asked the industry regulator to allow them to increase fuel surcharges as they confront surging oil prices, Shanghai Airlines (600591.SS) Chairman Zhou Chi said on Friday.

The airlines are seeking up to a doubling of the surcharge and the regulator is expected to give a response around July 1, Zhou told Reuters on the sidelines of a shareholders' meeting.

He added that he expected his airline to be profitable in the first half of this year, although full-year results would depend in part on government policies, including the surcharge.

Chinese airlines have been hit hard by a surge in crude oil prices.

China Southern Airlines Co (1055.HK) (600029.SS) Chairman Liu Shaoyong said in an interview published in a state-run newspaper on Thursday that the rise in oil prices had boosted the carrier's annual costs by nearly 5 billion yuan ($728 million). (For details click [ID:nPEK252607]) ($1=6.865 Yuan) (Reporting by Fang Yan; Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)