Relief for scheduled airlines: Jet fuel prices up by 8.5%; flyers spared steep airfare hikes

NEW DELHI: Jet fuel prices for scheduled Indian carriers have been upped by about 8.5% in April, sparing the average air travellers big airfare hikes. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices for scheduled airlines per kilo litre will now cost Rs 1,04,927 in Delhi, up from Rs 96,638.14 last month. At India’s second busiest hub, the price is now Rs 98,247, up from Rs 90,451.87 last month. This is a big relief to India’s stressed airlines and flyers.ATF pricing for non scheduled, adhoc and charters: The uber rich travelling travelling on non scheduled, adhoc and charters will need to cough up a lot more as jet fuel for those flights has more than doubled. For their domestic flights the increase is about 115% and for their international flights, the same is about 107%. A kilo litre (KL or 1,000 litres) of ATF for these operators at India’s busiest aviation hub Delhi’s IGIA will now cost Rs 2,07,341.22 — up 114.5% from Rs 96,638.14 last month — for domestic flights. This is the first time the price for them has crossed the Rs 2-lakh mark in Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai.ATF pricing has crossed the $1,000-mark for the first time in India for international chartered flights by Indian operators. A kilo litre of ATF for international flights will now cost $1,690.81 in Delhi — up 107% from $816.91 last month. Mumbai pricing and hike is almost the same. Relief for scheduled airlines: ATF for domestic flights has been one of the most expensive globally in India. Jet fuel accounted for 40%—45% of airlines’ total operating costs of scheduled airlines. A big hike would have made Indian carriers — with one profitable airline (IndiGo) and a handful backed by cash-rich promoters like Tata for Air India Group — unviable.IndiGo, Air India group, Akasa are among the airlines that had last month imposed or hiked fuel surcharge which now range from Rs 150 to $200. The fare cap of Rs 18,000 for domestic flights was removed on March 21, 2026. Since airlines have not got any fiscal relief on ATF excise (from Centre) or VAT (from some places like Delhi and Mumbai), they had categorically asked the govt to cap airfares only if their costs can be similarly capped too.The rupee touching new life-lows on a daily basis adds to the dollar-denominated costs of airlines, including fuel for international flights of Indian carriers. On top of that routes to and from the west have become much longer.