Air travel becomes costlier

Air travel became costlier today with major Indian carriers hiking fuel surcharge on tickets, ranging from Rs 150 to Rs 250 for domestic travel and USD 15 (Rs 825) for a one-way international ticket, following an almost eight% increase in jet fuel prices.

While Air India introduced the increased fuel surcharge today itself, Jet Airways and its subsidiary JetKonnect would raise it from tomorrow, officials of both airlines said.

Under the new regime, an increase of Rs 150 in the surcharge would be applicable on all sectors less than 1,000 kms and Rs 250 for those beyond that distance. A blanket hike of USD 15 would be effected on all one-way international tickets.

The domestic fuel surcharge for a distance of over 1000 kms so far was Rs 3250, which would now go up to Rs 3500. The surcharge so far was Rs 1600 on a ticket for less than 1000 km distance.

A Jet Airways spokesperson said the hike in fuel surcharge would be effective from tomorrow, while an Air India official said the increase has been effected on all bookings from today.

Officials of no-frill airlines, like IndiGo and SpiceJet, remained tight-lipped about when they would give effect to the hike but were of the opinion that this steep rise in jet fuel prices would hit their financial bottomline.

"We are studying the impact of a steep hike of aviation turbine fuel prices on our operational costs which are high in any case. We are studying the situation and may take a decision soon," one of the airline officials said, requesting anonymity.

The increase in fuel surcharge was neccesitated following the steep rise in the price of aviation turbine fuel by 7.6% last week, the officials said.