Bookings on Thomas Cook holidays will once again include a fuel surcharge.

The travel firm blames the reinstatement on record-high fuel costs, which officials say has forced them to pass part of the cost on to passengers. Fuel surcharges will add as much as 4% to the total cost of a holiday.

The levy was reinstated on Tuesday and will continue through the current winter holiday period and onward through March of 2012. It will apply to all holiday bookings and charter flights booked from the 1st of March onward.

The fees add £15 for each short-haul flight (three hours or less) in a given booking, £25 for flights lasting three to seven hours in duration and £40 for each flight lasting in excess of seven hours.

The news comes amid sharp rises in oil and fuel costs. Tuesday saw the price of crude reach $112 a barrel after topping the highest-ever price just a week before at $119 per barrel due to ongoing unrest and disruptions in the oil-rich Middle East region. Crude prices have seen steady increases since the beginning of the year, when the price was set at $87 a barrel.

Speaking for Thomas Cook UK & Ireland, Ian Ailles said that the travel operator had worked hard to prevent rising oil prices from affecting holidaymakers but the new levy was simply unavoidable given the current situation.