This is to inform you that the fare charges for the flights may soar by the end of this year. It is very likely to happen in the December quarter because IndiGo is levying surcharges to make up for costly jet fuel. Yes, you heard it right, more airlines are to follow IndiGo in imposing surcharges due to costlier jet fuel. Since this news surfaced, people have been scrambling to the web to learn the reason for the expected increased airfares in the December quarter. A report stated that a slew of festivals and holidays this year also led to increasing airfares. It is expected that the December quarter will see the highest fares of the year. You are asked to go through this column till the end to unfold more details.
Increased Jet Fuel Price To Soar Airfares
The leading airline IndiGo which has more than 63 percent market share, on Thursday, October 5, 2023, asserted it will charge a fuel surcharge on every ticket beginning October 6, 2023, in the range of Rs 300 to Rs1000. After IndiGo, SpiceJet is also thinking of increasing the prices of tickets. An airline executive familiar with the development said SpiceJet is also planning to levy a fuel surcharge.
Manan Bajoria who is the vice-president of growth at ticket booking platform ixigo said, “Airfares were already trending higher for the festive months of October and November due to high travel demand. Additional fuel charges by airlines will raise fares by Rs400-Rs500 across key routes. For example, an IndiGo Delhi-Mumbai one-way flight was costing Rs4,700 on average, and now, it is Rs5,300″ A report shared by ixigo claims the average one-way from Delhi to Bengaluru now costs around Rs7000 which was earlier Rs6300, while the Delhi to Hyderabad route has increased to nearly Rs5400 from about Rs4600 earlier. Shift to the next section and read more details.
Talking about jet fuel prices, it soared in Delhi for the fourth time in the past four months in a row taking it to Rs 118,199.17 per Kililitre on October 1, 2023, which is almost 32 percent higher than it was in June and nearly 89 percent higher than it was in December 2019 at Rs 62,687 per Kilolitre. Kinjal Shah of Icra Ltd. said, “ATF accounts for a substantial 30-40 percent of the total cost for an airline. Airlines are considering passing on such a soaring in the ATF prices to their customers through jet fuel surcharge so that their revenue per available seat km-cost per available seat km spread does not get affected materially,”