Fuel Price Hikes May Bring Airline Ticket Surcharges : Transportation: The fees would be the first imposed since the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

Several airlines, including United and Continental, said Friday that they were considering placing surcharges on tickets to cover recent sharp rises in jet fuel costs.

If imposed, the special fuel charges would be the first since the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

It wasn’t clear whether the airlines would decide to impose the special charges--and thus raise ticket prices--after reducing fares earlier this week. Most of the nation’s airlines have dropped excursion fares by as much as 30% to help fill planes during the slow winter months.

It was speculated that calling a fuel-related fare hike a surcharge might make it more palatable to consumers.

Several airlines said Friday that they were concerned about the jump in fuel prices, which are up 40% from a year ago. Spot prices of jet fuel in New York have soared 70% this month, caused in part by Gulf Coast refinery fires and an Eastern cold snap that have strained oil supplies.

“The price of fuel has been going crazy,” said Art Kent, spokesman for Continental Airlines. “It is a serious problem. We are looking at a number of options; obviously a fuel surcharge is one of them.”

The increase in jet fuel prices has already prompted two airlines--Trump Shuttle and Pan American World Airways--to raise fares on their Northeastern shuttles by 20%, starting next Wednesday.

However, Pan Am said it isn’t considering a fare increase on its other more competitive routes.

The cost of fuel has a direct impact on profits, because fuel accounts for about 15% of an airline’s operating costs. A 1-cent rise in fuel prices costs the industry $150 million a year, according to the Air Transport Assn., an industry trade group.

Robin Mattel, spokesman for Continental’s sister airline, Eastern Airlines, said a possible fuel surcharge is under study. A fuel surcharge is also one option under consideration at United Airlines, said spokesman Joe Hopkins.

Don Morrison, a spokesman for Trans World Airlines, said a fare increase is possible if fuel prices continue to rise but that the airline isn’t considering a surcharge.

Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and USAir said they were not studying a surcharge or a fare hike.

Though the airlines regularly pass on cost increases to customers, the industry hasn’t imposed a fuel surcharge since 1973, when oil prices rose steeply and the federal government allowed the airlines to raise fares a few dollars to help cover costs.

The industry was deregulated in 1978, and airlines can impose fare hikes, or surcharges, without government permission.