Air India tanks up for return flight to Myanmar at home now; all international routes under lens after ATF hike

NEW DELHI: With Jet fuel availability an issue in some countries including Myanmar, Air India has started fuelling aircraft for its flight to Yangon and back. The Tata Group airline has a once weekly on Delhi-Yangon-Delhi route. The single aisle deployed on this route now gets enough fuel from Delhi so that it can fly out of Yangoon. The aircraft then stops over in Kolkata on the way back for refuelling and then continues the journey to Delhi. So the flight has now become Delhi -Yangon-Kolkata-Delhi.

"More fuel means heavier plane. Heavier plane means more fuel burn. So it’s a vicious cycle for airlines who were till Feb 28 trying to reduce fuel burn by all available means," said a senior pilot. The base price of ATF for international flights was more than doubled on Wednesday.

American President Trump's fresh warning to Iran has worsened the situation for airlines as they worry ATF availability could become an issue in the Gulf also.

"Two weeks back we had got a message that out aircraft may not get refuelled at Dubai. We were working out plan B and plan C. Luckily that situation did not arise last month. We don't know what's in store for April as the war continues unabated," said officials.

While announcing a hike in fuel surcharge on Wednesday, IndiGo had said in a statement: "IATA’s Jet Fuel Monitor indicates over 130% increase in fuel prices for the region on a month-on-month comparison….. For international operations, ATF prices have more than doubled in the last month, consequentially driving a significant impact on the airline’s operating costs on these routes.”

All Indian carriers will now look at each foreign route very closely as jet fuel for those flights is now more expensive. The absence of the big 3 Gulf carriers for now — Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad — which carries a significant traffic between India and rest of the world before Feb 28 has seen western carriers like Lufthansa group and British Airways add flights to India. Air India also keeps adding western flights whenever possible. But the impact of higher fares on travel demand is being closely assessed. Once, and if, the same hit demand, flight numbers will reduce.

International fares are surging since the outbreak of the war due to multiple factors with airlines’ operating costs going through the roof due to longer routes; rupee crashing and marginal flights by Gulf biggies being the key ones. Anil Kalsi, Travel Agents Federation of India VP, said: “All these things have led to international airfares to and from the west being double of pre-Feb 28 levels. Over the next few weeks, economy class for one-way Delhi-New York is about Rs 2.25 lakh and return is 2.32 lakh; Delhi-London one-way is Rs 2.2 lakh and return Rs 2.52 lakh; Delhi-San Francisco (available only from mid April) is Rs 2.65 lakh one-way and Rs 2.4 lakh return and Mumbai-Paris about Rs 2.5 lakh. Due to longer routes, airlines need to carry more fuel that means less cargo and passengers.”
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