New Delhi: Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices on Tuesday touched the highest ever level in India, making the struggle to survive for Covid-ravaged airlines even harder.
A kilo litre (KL or 1,000 litres) for domestic flights now costs Rs 86,038.2 in Delhi and Rs 84,505.6 in Mumbai — the two busiest airports of India.
Officials across airlines say the aviation ministry should now automatically raise domestic fare caps given the situation or the industry will need to ask for the same.
“ATF price has been hiked by Rs 6,743.25 per KL or 8.5 per cent to Rs 86,038.16 per kl in Delhi. This is the highest ever price touched by ATF (in India). This is higher than Rs 71,028.26 per kl in August 2008 when international crude oil price had touched $147 per barrel,” said an airline official.
ATF alone accounts for almost 40% of Indian airlines’ operating costs as the country has among the most expensive jet fuel for domestic flights globally.
The hike came on a day when the struggling industry got no relief, yet again, in the budget. Ronojoy Dutta, CEO of India’s largest airline (by passenger carriage), IndiGo, said, “…we were expecting tax concession to the aviation industry in the forms of cut in ATF excise duty and allocation of concessional finance to airlines to help us come out of the pandemic.”
Omicron has hit the travel industry — that was barely beginning to get out of the Delta blow by last November when the latest wave struck — hard. Traveller numbers have again hit rock bottom.
01/02/22 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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