The aviation sector, which was bleeding even before the pandemic hit, is now scorching in the fire of inflation. Due to the increase of more than three times in the ATF prices, the airlines are also having to increase the fares, which has a direct impact on the pockets of the passengers. There is a possibility of further increase in airfares in the coming times.
New Delhi. This is bad news for air travelers. The prices of air tickets that have already reached the sky will fly more. Officials of domestic airlines have said to increase ticket prices further due to rising ATF prices.
Moneycontrol Airlines officials told that if Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices continue to increase like this, then air ticket prices will also have to increase by 2-4 percent every month. He said that we cannot increase the ticket price simultaneously, but if the jet fuel rate keeps increasing like this, then the price of ticket will increase by Rs 300-600 every month.
Tickets have already become 30 percent expensive
A senior official of GoFirst, which provides affordable airlines, said, the prices of domestic air tickets have already increased by 30 percent compared to last year. As the price of jet fuel increases, its prices will also go up. Fuel alone accounts for 40 per cent of the total cost of operating our aircraft. Therefore, even if we do not want to increase the price of ATF, we also have to increase the price of the ticket.
SpiceJet bid – need to increase fare by 10 to 15%
Ajay Singh, CMD of budget airline SpiceJet, has cited rising jet fuel prices and depreciation of rupee as the biggest reason for the increase in air tickets. He said that due to both these reasons, airlines have no option but to increase the fare immediately. According to the increase in ATF prices, we will have to increase the ticket by at least 10-15%, then only the cost can be recovered. This situation is not good for both airlines and passengers. Therefore, the central and state governments should pay attention to this.
Fares doubled from pre-pandemic levels
India is included in the list of countries where the highest tax is levied on jet fuel. The industry says that if there is a sudden sharp increase in fares, it will affect the recovery of the sector, which has already suffered a lot due to the pressure of the pandemic. Not only this, the rent has also doubled from the pre-pandemic level.
If we talk about the Delhi-Mumbai route, then at present its average fare is Rs 4,700 to Rs 5,500. The one-way fare on this route was Rs 2,300-2,500 in June 2019 and Rs 3,500-3,800 in June 2021.
Passengers started decreasing if the fare increased
The airline official said that the effect of increasing the fare is also visible on our business and the number of passengers is continuously decreasing. In April, where an average of 4 lakh people were traveling by air daily, in June this number has come down to 3.5 lakh. Travel.com, a company that works as an online travel agency, says that within just two months, we have seen air ticket prices increase by 30-40 percent.
Rates will increase the most on short distance travel
Market analysts say that the first impact of the hike in fares will be on regional routes. Airlines may increase fares on Tier-1 routes by 5 to 10 per cent in the next two months, while fares on short-haul regional routes may see an increase of 20-25 per cent.
ATF prices increased more than three times in one and a half year
If we talk about the increase in the prices of jet fuel, then within a year and a half, its prices have increased more than three times. The price of ATF in Delhi was Rs 40,783 per kiloliter in January, 2021, which has increased to Rs 1,41,232.87 per kiloliter in June, 2022. Oil companies revise ATF prices every 15 days. On June 14, there was a big increase of 16.3 percent in its prices.
