ATF price hike may delay the recovery seen by airlines recently

Raising the airfares further could hurt traffic volumes

The market was braced for a price hike across fuels but the extent of the 18 per cent hike in Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) today was a negative surprise. This is likely to impact the civil aviation sector badly, at a point of time when it looked to be just starting to recover from the terrible effect of lockdowns.

The Q3, 2021-22 saw signs of some revival in passenger traffic and better financial results. There was a fall in traffic numbers again during January 2022 when the Omicron wave hit. Domestic passenger traffic for January 2022 was down 43 per