Indian jet fuel prices slashed by 12%
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India’s state-run oil companies have slashed theprice of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) by a 12%, The Times of India has reported.Saturday’s cut was the third and most significant this month, bringing ATFprices down by a cumulative 16% in the last fortnight, and marking anincredible 44.5% fall from the highs of August.
It may take a while however, for the cuts to be passed on toconsumers. Indian airlines are still reportedly struggling to cope withfinancial deficits deriving from the summer period and are unlikely to cutfares as the attempt to recoup losses. Partner airlines Jet and Kingfisher saidthey were evaluating the impact of fuel price cuts.
Meanwhile, Air Indiaspokesperson, J. Bhargava, said; ”When fuel prices were shooting up monthafter month, we were passing on to passengers only a part of the extraliability so that fares remain at reasonable levels. It will take some moretime before we can decide on fares. Meanwhile, dollar has appreciated againstthe rupee and airlines incur a substantial portion of their cost in dollars.”
Low-cost carriers meanwhile have already started offering special schemes toregain passengers lost when airfares rose. IndiGo and SpiceJet have alreadyremoved a ‘congestion surcharge’ of INR150 (US$3) and do not charge theINR350-500 transaction fee that their full service counterparts do.
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