Air Freight Firm First to Impose Fuel Surcharge : Shipping: Burlington Air Express says the 6-cent-per-pound increase is necessitated by rising costs related to the Middle East crisis.

Burlington Air Express said Thursday that it will impose a fuel surcharge for all shipments in the United States and Canada, making it the first air freight company to take such a step.

Burlington said the 6-cent-per-pound surcharge--amounting to less than 6% on an average price of $1.10 to $1.12 per pound--will take effect Aug. 20 and “will be reviewed on a continuing basis.”

Although several passenger airlines have increased fares in response to escalating fuel prices resulting from the Middle East crisis, other air freight companies such as Federal Express, United Parcel Service and DHL Worldwide Express said Thursday that they have no current plans for surcharges.

But Burlington said that rising jet-fuel prices “had left it no choice but to pass on these extraordinary cost increases to its customers.”

Unlike other overnight delivery firms, Irvine-based Burlington specializes in shipping large loads, with individual shipments averaging 150 pounds. The surcharge will not apply to international shipments, spokeswoman Raquel Garcia said, because the company does not fly its own planes on overseas routes.

A spokesman for Federal Express said that the company has never imposed a surcharge for extraordinary costs and that it has no plans to do so. Fuel accounts for 7.8% of Federal Express’ operating costs, he added.

United Parcel Service, which spent $222 million on fuel for its trucks alone last year, has imposed surcharges during previous “oil shocks,” spokesman Alan Caminiti said, but has no current plans to raise prices. “We try and ride out these kinds of fluctuations,” he added. “We’ll have to see what happens.”

UPS is facing a possible strike by its drivers that has already hurt business, but Caminiti said that is not a factor in pricing decisions.

DHL Worldwide Express, which began acquiring its own fleet of airplanes in 1983, is also taking a wait-and-see stance toward rising fuel costs, a spokesman said.

Burlington’s Garcia said other air express companies focus on smaller shipments than Burlington and are thus in a different segment of the market. Some major trucking companies, she noted, have begun boosting prices.

The price for one standard grade of jet fuel has increased from 63.75 cents per gallon to 70.5 cents per gallon in the past week, Garcia said.