Surge in jet gas costs set to make flights expensive

Express News Service

NEW DELHI:  Airfares are prone to soar additional as the federal government has hiked jet gas costs by 5.29%, its tenth hike within the 12 months thus far. Fares have already shot up by 25-40% this 12 months. The newest leap would solely make flying costlier. Jet gas charges account for about 40% of an airline’s operating value. Fares in lots of sectors have practically doubled within the final two years or so.

A fast search on any journey portal reveals {that a} one-way flight within the busy Delhi-Mumbai sector is priced between Rs 6,550-7,850 (May 23, continuous, financial system) whereas within the Delhi-Bengaluru sector it’s Rs 8,400-9,850. In the early 2020s, earlier than Covid struck, a one-way Delhi-Mumbai financial system class flight booked per week prematurely was priced roughly at Rs 3,500. For the Delhi-Bengaluru sector at that cut-off date, it was about Rs 5,000.

Multiple ticketing brokers this newspaper spoke to stated airfares in 2022 alone have shot up by as much as 40% for tickets booked for flights that will take-off in 15 days, whereas it went up by as much as 25-30% if booked after 15 days.

Rajiv Mehra, president of, Indian Association of Tour Operators, advised this newspaper, “5-10% hike is absorbable but when the fares go up by 30-40%, it dents the tourism sector. After the pandemic, we were now hoping for good tourists’ arrival but these high fares have poured water on all our hopes.”

The value of jet gas, additionally known as aviation turbine gas, was elevated by Rs 6,188.25 per kilolitre, or 5.29%, to Rs 1,23,039.71 per kl (Rs 123 per litre) in Delhi. The gas value has been raised by a cumulative 61.7% from January to May 16 this 12 months.